June 30, 2008

Okay, Wall-E Was Pretty Great

Pixar's latest animated romp Wall-E beat out Angelina Jolie as superhero assassin-recruiter-whatever flick Wanted to collect over 63 million bucks into its cute little trash-compactor belly this weekend, and after feeling a bit guilty for posting a skeptical review before even seeing it, I escaped the gay pride crowds by heading for a Saturday night showing. While I'm not really qualified to agree or disagree with the Chicago Tribune's claim that this is the "best American studio film this year," I will say it was really quite good, probably the best Pixar film yet, but not without its flaws.

The inconsistent anthropomorphism that annoyed and troubled me in Finding Nemo is far more tolerable here: while it's silly to think a trash-compactor robot would be granted such an elaborate emotion chip and that a cockroach could take orders, they're both smart enough to be the last of their kind, and in 700 years, who knows what could happen? Plus there are lots of winking details: the portaits of the ship's captains throughout the years devolve not only from robust to flabby, but also from photo-realistic to cartoonish, in a cute nod to Scott McCloud's theories of how comics use simplification to create a language of symbols. Unfortunately, my previous criticism of the excessive detail of computer-animated films applies here as well: there's often just too much going on, extra bits that distract you from the task at hand. It's understandable, since such elaborate productions require extreme specialization, and if you have a team of animators spending three years working on a 7-second scene of a goofy malfunctioning umbrella robot, that robot will probably be really cool and funny and its scene will whip by far too quickly, leaving you vaguely unsatisfied, wishing the movie could slow down a little and let you look at all the stuff.

Some reviews were too critical: Salon.com was in awe of the opening and frustrated with the ending, claiming that the film shifted tone too abruptly between acts, but I didn't see that at all. While the underlying concept of a trash-covered dead Earth is pretty grim, for sure, even the first 40 wordless minutes are mostly played for laughs, or at least for "awwws," with our robot lead scooting around adorably. Director Andrew Stanton has downplayed the film's political side, but really, it's right there front and center: the perennially awesome Fred Willard, as some sort of corporate-CEO-slash-president-of-Earth, uses the obvious Bushism "stay the course" when it's clear things are falling apart, although me and my date were the only ones who laughed at that in our audience. Despite the direct criticisms of our current political muddle and consumerist excesses, Wall-E is always a comedy, and I'd honestly expected it to be a little darker. Remember the old Mel Brooks remake of To Be or Not to Be, where madcap silliness is set against the backdrop of Nazi-occupied Warsaw? This is like that, only even lighter, and for kids, of course. In both films, the unimaginable loss is offscreen, and we get to enjoy an unlikely happy ending, although things here seem to get wrapped up a little too easily. This is tempered by the brilliant coda that runs alongside the credits: an epilogue utilizing styles from the history of human visual expression and a retelling of the movie's plot using classic video game-style graphics.

Sure, the question of whether a Disney product can authentically criticize consumerist culture, lazy viewers, and wasted resources may trouble some viewers, but I dunno; works of art distributed by major conglomerates have criticized those same conglomerates for a long time. At the very least, it brings up interesting issues for discussion; something that Beverly Hills Chihuahua, whose stultifying, this-cannot-be-real preview seemed to exemplify the trash culture Wall-E was criticizing, can't even approach. Where the line is between "Chihuahuas Gone Wild" and apparently worthy artifacts of humanity's existence like Hello, Dolly, I'm not sure, but it's reassuring to know that in 700 years, a robot will have figured it out.

The Halfway Mark: The Best Albums of 2008 So Far

Happy bottom of the year, everybody. It's hard to believe, but 2008 is already half done, with only six months remaining for us to get our year-end best-of lists together! How will we manage? Sure, we're waiting for new discs from Beck, Black Kids, The Faint, maybe U2, and, uh, New Kids on the Block, but in the meantime, here's an admittedly subjective list of the finest full-length releases of the year so far (complete with videos!), as well as a "next 10" list of CDs nipping at their heels. Will Party Ben like experimental hip-hop and droney noise-rock this year? Click the "continues" button and find out!

10. Flying Lotus – Los Angeles (Warp)
While it's clear the Californian producer is an heir to J Dilla's woozy, scratchy style, Flying Lotus faces forward on this 17-track album, combining soulful, jazzy beats with throbbing electronic buzzes and strange, swirling effects. He's clearly listened to the spacey dubstep of Burial as well, but Los Angeles is a place all his own: an ominous, static-y broadcast from a city on the brink. Check out "RobertaFlack," where the R&B vocal is suffused under waves of sound:

9. The Raveonettes – Lust Lust Lust (Vice)
Oh, Raveonettes. So cute! Hanging out in Denmark, creating their own little world where fuzzed-out '60s surf-rock and the Velvet Underground never went out of style. While Lust stays safely within that zone, it pulls back from the brink of cliché, doing more with less: less hokey retro cover art, less production, and perhaps, even more bleak than ever. Witness single "Dead Sound," a wry reference both to their iconoclastic style and the feeling you get "when nightfall comes and you're still alone." Ulp.

8. Lil Wayne – Tha Carter III (Cash Money)
Okay, I wasn't so hot on this album when it came out, but the more it spins in my iTunes, the more I catch myself humming along. So what if it's a sell-out: Wayne is one of the most fascinating, colorful figures in popular music, as curious as Kanye but with a much greater tolerance for emotional depth. He matches wits with Jay-Z on "Mr. Carter," growling, "I got summer hating on me cause I'm hotter than the sun," and with a million CDs sold and counting, it's hard to argue.

7. Hercules & Love Affair – S/T (DFA)
Everyone's always talking about the New York "disco resurgence," but it seems to me like disco never left; it's like the strutting, thumping soundtrack of the city. Essentially a solo project with multiple guest vocalists, the album's most brilliant (and natural) idea was bringing in Antony of Antony and the Johnsons, whose haunting vibrato fits perfectly over the retro boogie. Check out "Blind," where the obtuse lyrics somehow complement the propulsive funk:

6. Vampire Weekend – S/T (XL)
Boy did I want to hate these guys, and who could blame me: they're smirky, lily-white NYC preps bastardizing Afropop with the hype meter set at 11. But it turns out they're making quirky, infectious tunes with a direct line back to fellow Afropop-inspired New Yorkers Talking Heads, and in single "A-Punk," they have one of the unlikeliest, and giddiest, hits of the year.

5. No Age – Nouns (Sub Pop)
With so many people heading to LA to "make it big," it's always hard to define an "LA sound," but the noisy, psychedelic, energetic punk of No Age is at least a nominee. A D.I.Y. duo who doesn't shy away from electronics, they make fuzzy rock that's not afraid of a little sunlight: single "Eraser" has bright, open chords under the unsettling layer of feedback.

4. Beach House – Devotion (Carpark)
This Baltimore duo have the patience of Low but the eclecticism of Arcade Fire, filling out these delicate ballads with surprising instrumentation: harpsichords, organs, pedal guitars. Over it all, singer Victoria Legrand's classically-trained voice rings out in clear, pure tones, like on single "Gila," where she sings, "Sure, you’ve got a handle on the past/It’s why you keep your little lovers in your lap."

3. M83 – Saturdays = Youth (EMI)
While '80s nostalgia is nothing new, it usually takes the form of dancing happily to "Hungry Like the Wolf." Yet it took a lone Frenchman to spelunk the '80s caverns and find a neglected grotto: dramatic, soundtrack-y, Miami Vice-ballady, faker-than-fake gauzy synth pop. The cover, a Breakfast Club-referencing photo of fashion-damaged teens, makes the reference clear, and despite the artifice, the album is unexpectedly emotional, like a letter of forgiveness to our hopelessly screwed-up youthful selves. Check out "Graveyard Girl," with its references to New Order and Echo & the Bunnymen:

2. Santogold – S/T (Downtown)
Sure, she's the "new M.I.A.," a genre-bending hipster-beloved singer who gets stuck in the wrong bins at the record store. But if part of M.I.A.'s legacy is to inspire young record company assistants to bravely strike out on their own musical paths, then more power to her, and the artist formerly known as Santi White has a path all her own. The album jumps between genres, but is unified by reggae's loping backbeat, whether it's on the warbling, synthetic "Creator" or on the guitar-led "L.E.S. Artists," a passionate, mournful cry that sounds like nothing so much as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

1. Portishead – Third (Go!)
A result of a nearly unheard-of pact between artist and listener, to put our ten years apart behind us and do the hard work necessary to get reacquainted. The band did their part, throwing out all their old instruments to force themselves to reinvent, and we did ours, letting our eardrums adjust to the shocking blast of "Machine Gun." Against all odds, we did it, we and Portishead, we got back together, and like the best, most surprising make-up sex, the music is awe-inspiring: at times rough, at times delicate, united by lead singer Beth Gibbons' ice-cold voice. "In my thoughts I have bled, for the riddles I've been fed," she sings on "The Rip," which evolves from a simple ukulele ballad into a majestic electronic arpeggio.

Next 10: Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Dig Lazarus Dig, The Duke Spirit – Neptune, Bun B – II Trill, Fleet Foxes – S/T, Crystal Castles – S/T, Black Mountain – In the Future, Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours, Atlas Sound – Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel, Belye Flagy Zazhigaite Medlenno – Even if the Proletariat Takes the Power Into Its Own Hands, the Spring Will Be Left For Us and the Aims of War Will Remain the Same, MGMT – Oracular Spectacular

Okay, Riff commenters, have at it; but as always, I plead with you to criticize without name-calling.

The Dust Off: Cheech and Chong

The pending release (August 12) of Tommy Chong's unauthorized biography of the infamous comedy duo Cheech & Chong shouldn't be the only reason to revisit the duo's raunchy, 70s- and 80s-era, marijuana-laden humor, such as:

According to Cheech and Chong News, the duo will hit the road in September to do a stand-up tour and there is talk of a new movie together.

But let's not forget Up in Smoke, the 1978 flick that scores of stoners since have quoted at least once in their life:

Book, stand-up tour, movie: all of this big news begs the question, "but why?" Chong already wrote a New York Times bestseller about his arrest and imprisonment. Cheech went on to appear in that super lame, post-Miami Vice Don Johnson show, Nash Bridges and do a whole slew of voice-overs for animated features, not to mention star in a bunch of Robert Rodriguez films.

But I guess the bottom-line question is "why not?" We've revisited more family-friendly, 60s- and 70s-era entertainment such as The Brady Bunch, and Bewitched and Get Smart, so I guess it was inevitable that some late-70s raunch would resurface as well.

I mean, when your main interests are low-ridin, checkin' out sexy mamas on the strip, and smoking labrador, an old (and probably new) fan base will no doubt resurface.

Video: Jay-Z Covers Oasis at Glastonbury

When it was announced that the legendary UK music festival had chosen rapper Jay-Z as a headliner, many fans were upset that a rock band wasn't chosen like usual, and even Noel Gallagher of Oasis complained, saying "Jay-Z, I'm not f***ing having him at Glastonbury." Well good old Jay-Z took lemons and made lemonade, opening his set Saturday night with a clip of Gallagher's comments, then emerging to warble a cheeky cover of Oasis' own "Wonderwall." Despite Hova's being a bit, as they say, "pitchy," seemingly all of Glastonbury sang along:

As Pitchfork said, there's a lot going on there, including angry mockery, a lighthearted wink, pure nostalgia, and straightforward enjoyment of the song itself; the performance's nose-thumb origins didn't prevent it from also being a traditional festival singalong moment. Even the Brits were impressed: The Times of London called Jay-Z's appearance "a moment of real, euphoric, pop-culture history" and "the most thrilling headline act for more than a decade" (they're probably talking about Radiohead's legendary 1997 performance for a mud-drenched crowd). Go Jay-Z. Kind of makes you wonder why Coachella never booked him.

June 27, 2008

Everybody Going Wacky for Wall-E

I posted about the viral web site accompanying the new Pixar project Wall-E back in October; the site, a parody of corporate propaganda, was amusing, but even back then I said the movie looked like it would be "another cutesy romp with big-eyed creatures on some sort of quest." (Yes, I just quoted myself). By now we've seen actual clips and trailers, which have only confirmed my suspicions that this is Short Circuit 3: cute bleepy robots with big googly eyes! But shut my mouth: word around the intertubes is that Wall-E is the greatest thing to get projected onto a screen since Citizen Kane. A.O. Scott in the NY Times says the film is "a cinematic poem of such wit and beauty that its darker implications may take a while to sink in," and that's just the first sentence, while Michael Phillips in the Chicago Tribune calls it "the best American studio film so far this year." New York Magazine's Vulture blog has even started a campaign to get the film nominated for "Best Picture" (although they did also champion that Cavemen TV show). Sure, it turns out that Wall-E's cute little robots mask what is apparently a horrifying vision of humanity's future, with Earth abandoned to garbage and humans devolved into moronic blobs. Serious stuff. But we've seen dystopian visions before, even ones with mountains of garbage, and that doesn't necessarily a good movie make, Mike Judge. Little robot Wall-E even has a love interest called, um, EVE; this whole thing sure seems like a compendium of movie clichés.

Everybody loved Ratatouille, too, and I thought that was pretty underwhelming; the animation was appropriately warm and glowy, but similarly to Finding Nemo, the anthropomorphism was inconsistent and disorienting, and often kind of creepy. Plus, as we saw in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, having too much money and too many animators can make your hyper-realistic backgrounds a little overwhelming. Computer animation tends to forget that great cinematography, like in, say, 2001: A Space Odyssey, has a graphic simplicity; just because you can draw every blade of grass doesn't mean you should.

Well, anyway, Pixar, I'll at least give you my matinee ticket price, and if it turns out to be spectacular, I'll eat my words. Riffers, if you catch Wall-E this weekend, post your thoughts in the comments: Oscar-worthy examination of humanity's downfall and the dark side of consumerism, or the robot E.T.?

Party Ben's Gay Pride Playlist

As we approach LGBT pride celebrations around the country this weekend, I'm reminded of the hardships we queers face. Sure, discrimination's bad; being used as a wedge issue in political campaigns kind of sucks; friends' well-intentioned attempts to set you up with their other gay friend can be a little awkward. But honestly, you know the worst part about being gay? The music. Seriously. Say you feel like gathering with your fellow queers for an adult beverage, or maybe celebrating the political accomplishments of the past year at a parade, or something. You'll be forced to endure 10,000 spins of "It's Raining Men," endless ABBA, and an insufferable genre of music I call "Self-Help House": big piano chords accompanied by a wailing diva assuring you that "You can do it/if you believe it," or whatever. It's enough to make you swear off identity politics.

But before you switch teams, rest assured that there's good queer music out there. Here's an alternate playlist for your Pride weekend parties, complete with videos.

Hercules & Love Affair – "Blind"

This neo-disco number unites the awe-inspiring Antony of Antony and the Johnsons with a propulsive electronic beat. Despite (or because of?) the track's obtuse lyrics ("Now that I'm older/The stars should lie upon my face"), it still evokes a sense of victory.

The Dresden Dolls – "Night Reconnaissance"

This Boston duo toured with Cyndi Lauper on the "True Colors" tour, but their cabaret-inspired music couldn't be more different from "She-Bop." "Reconnaissance" remembers the wild nights of your teenage years, "stealing flamingos and gnomes/from the dark side of the lawn."

Bloc Party – "I Still Remember"

With the subject matter on last year's A Weekend in the City including queer themes, lead singer Kele Okereke inched out of the closet. He still hopes not to be known just as the "black gay guy" in the indie band, but with songs this universal, he shouldn't worry.

Tegan and Sara – "The Con"

Like it's wistful-chord forerunner, The Cure's "Push," this track from our favorite Canadian twins laments lost love, not exactly the most celebratory sentiment for Gay Pride weekend. Yet the soaring guitar lines and admission that "I really like to cry" gives it an unexpected euphoria.

God-Des & She – "Love You Better"

While I suspect that lesbian rapper God-Des exists only on gay network Logo, this straightforward track has a sensual groove and a winking sense of humor; plus, at the end, she gets the girl.

The Gossip – "Listen Up"

Here the New York combo set their disco-punk to a cheeky video about gender bending that seems to be taking place in some snazzy European city with good public transit options.

Quiz: Are You A Beatnik? 1960 Questionnaire

Before Gerard Malanga joined Andy Warhol's circle and staffed Interview magazine, he wrote an odd, charming questionnaire and sent it to his mentor, Daisy Aldan.

Five questions from his "Are You a Beatnik?" quiz:

Are you hep?

Do you consider me a Daddy-O?

Do you always wear those crazy quilts?

Are you the utmost? The utmost of what?

Take the rest of the 2-page quiz, and see the original, here.

Or, if you're in Austin, go see it in person at the University of Texas' Harry Ransom Center exhibition, On the Road with the Beats.

—Rose Miller

June 25, 2008

Spring Cleaning at the FBI

The FBI maintains a total of 300,000 cubic feet of historical documents and records, in compliance with the Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts.

But apparently, freedom of information is also subject to spring-cleaning.

Among the guidelines for determining documents worth hanging on to is the "fat file theory," positing that heft is somehow correlated to importance.

Cases not categorized important enough for a permanent status are reevaluated at 25 years—their fates determined by the whims of internal FBI agents, not trained archivists.

As long as they're trying to make space in cramped government buildings, maybe someone should let the FBI know that they can condense behemoth files down to merely 3 cubic feet of storage space, enough for the hard drives needed to store the data they're deleting.

But, whoops, I guess that could mean easy public access to information.

—Joyce Tang

June 24, 2008

Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme Denies He's a Homophobe

Josh Homme has issued a statement denying he's homophobic after an expletive-laden rant he unleashed on a concertgoer which included anti-gay slurs hit the intertubes. During a performance last week at the Norwegian Wood festival, something got thrown at the stage which hit Homme, who was reportedly already grumpy after a three-day bout with the flu. He singled out the assailant in the audience and unleashed a blistering tirade of insults that's truly awe-inspiring in scope; unfortunately, the rant included multiple mentions of "faggot" as well as references to, er, forced homosexual activities. Close your office door and feel the power of this totally, totally not safe for work clip of Homme unleashed, after the jump:

Homme's open letter in response to the accusations of homophobia was a little weird, starting off with the "some of my best friends are gay" line and then tying itself up in logical knots:

My gay family & friends, as well as myself, KNOW I am not a homophobe. For years now I've known gay is not a choice; one's skin color doesn't determine one's intelligence level; & red hair doesn't mean you're someone's stepchild. You see, it's not the words, it's their intent.

"For years now"? Like, since '03? He went on to ask if the use of "pussy" as a pejorative implies distaste for vagina, although I'm not sure he'll make any more friends with that argument. So, we're back here: can you use offensive words without, uh, being offensive? I don't have any idea, but I will say that there's something kind of erotic about his rant; while I've never been interested in any sort of S&M domination/submission scene, I could see myself enjoying a verbal tongue-lashing from Mr. Homme, although as the Hottest Dude in Rock I suppose he could read me the phone book and that would be fun too. It does bring to mind the odd (and I've always assumed, coincidental) homoerotic subtext in some QOTSA songs: "Lost Art of Keeping a Secret" features the lines "We've got something to reveal/No one can know how we feel," and 2002's "No One Knows" also features the same secret-love theme. Not that I'm implying anything here (although he signs the "apology" letter "pan-sexual spokes-thing"), but hey, Josh, if you really want to prove you're not a homophobe, give me a call, I've got some ideas.

What to Listen To Instead of Sigur Ros

Your terribly-named DJ correspondent has made no secret of his distaste for Sigur Ros, the Icelandic combo known for dreamy, epic balladry sung in a mystical made-up language called "Hopelandic." The band releases their fifth studio album today, Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust, ("With a Buzz in Our Ears We Play Endlessly"), and while it earned a respectable 7.5 from Pitchfork for tempering the falsetto silliness with a "tangle of acoustic guitars," unfortunately, to my ears, they just end up sounding like Dave Matthews: lead single "Gobbldigook" has a hippie-dippy strum-strum dopiness that's only confirmed by its nudey video (possibly NSFW), which you can watch after the jump.

The rest of the album either tromps over already-trodden territory, like on the nearly 9-minute "Ara batur" which gets help going completely over the top from a boys' choir and a symphony, or tries to rev things up, like on "Inni Mer Syngur Vitleysingur," which wishes it was Arcade Fire but is not. So, say you're interested in some spacey, droney tunes, but find the Ros as cloying as a Lifetime melodrama. Where to turn? Well, here are five bands for those special times when you're looking to zone out.

Stars of the Lid
This Austin duo picks up where Brian Eno left off on Another Green World, or maybe Music for Airports: instrumental music made of long-held single notes, almost classical in scope. Their latest album, And Their Refinement of the Decline, was one of my favorites of 2007, with nearly two hours of oceanic, moving tones.
"Apresludes in C sharp major"

Eluvium
This Portland-based solo artist may share his name with, you know, soil deposits or whatever, but his mostly piano-based pieces have the delicacy of Philip Glass' lighter moments.
"Genius and the Thieves"

Explosions in the Sky
Hey, another Austin band: must be something in the water. EITS evoke comparisons to Mogwai, as both bands use traditional rock instrumentation to create soaring ambient epics, like U2 without the ego.
"The Birth and Death of the Day," live in Seattle

Tarentel
This underappreciated San Francisco combo have moved from Low-style minimalism to epic psychedelia to electronic rhythms, and their extensive discography includes some obtuse experimental wanderings, for sure. But their first full-length album, the acousticguitar-based From Bone to Satellite, is sublimely transcendent.
Listen to "For Carl Sagan" at Last.fm

Spiritualized
Hey, if we're going to talk space rock, we might as well go for the real deal, a band who actually titled an album Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space and packaged a limited-edition foil pack like medicine. I don't know if this album changed my life, but it sure made it feel better.
"Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space" fan video

Commenters: what's your drone-out music of choice, or do you find anything other than 2-minute 42-second pop songs a stultifying bore?

US Retaliates for Martha Stewart Snub By Refusing Visa to Boy George

Okay, I have absolutely no evidence that there is any connection between these two events, but how awesome would it be if there were? Imagine: an escalating war of visa denials, forcing our two nations' greatest instructional homemakers and '80s pop stars to remain trapped within their borders. Sorry, Adam Ant; turn around, Rachel Ray; no thanks, Feargal Sharkey; some other time, uh, Robin Miller. The U.S., deprived of the sweetly androgynous British singers of yesteryear, makes Ryan Adams tie bows in his hair and put on an oversized "Frankie Say Relax" T-shirt, and in the U.K., dinner parties hang in the balance until Helen Mirren is dragged into the BBC and forced to instruct a hapless populace on proper construction-paper craft techniques. Finally, a peace deal is brokered at the so-called Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) Accords, but not before thousands are injured by rubber cement mishaps and Foreigner records.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah: Boy George has been denied a visa to enter the U.S. for a summer tour, scheduled to begin July 11, due to his current legal problems involving a Norwegian escort who accused the singer of false imprisonment and assault. And who hasn't been there. The case is still pending, with a trial date set for November. A spokesperson for George said the singer was "astounded" by the decision and that he was hoping to "repay his American fans' loyalty." Now, if he wants to come clean up our streets again, that would be okay.

June 20, 2008

Barack Obama for Graphic Designer In Chief

I've written before about the artwork inspired by Barack Obama's run for the presidency, as well as his own campaign's choice of fonts, and it's all good, but their latest design choices are apparently causing some controversy. While the campaign's eschewing of the candidate's name on podium placards raised eyebrows, their current podium design has even the Drudge Report giving it an alarmist link: "Obama Changes Presidential Seal," he claims. It turns out the campaign debuted a new design (right) that appears to be "inspired" by the actual presidential seal, but with some important differences, as the Associated Press reports:

Instead of the Latin 'E pluribus unum' (Out of many, one), Obama's says 'Vero possumus', rough Latin for 'Yes, we can.' Instead of 'Seal of the President of the United States', Obama's Web site address is listed. And instead of a shield, Obama's eagle wears his 'O' campaign logo with a rising sun representing hope ahead.

After the jump: the dreaded "P" word, and I don't mean "public financing."

Drudge types may look at this as a troubling revision of one of our country's great symbols, but from a design perspective, it's quite lovely: the blues change subtly with each concentric circle, and the eagle and campaign logo look positively 3-dimensional, like some sort of elaborate papercraft sculpture. The New York Times famously called Obama a Mac and Clinton a PC in a comparison of the two campaigns' web sites, but honestly, Obama's designs are one step beyond Mac's neo-Nordic minimalism. With the sleek sophistication of their Gotham font (originally designed for GQ magazine) offset with an almost winking use of classical filigrees and a delicate script, it's both traditional and distinctly new. I hate to use the word "postmodern," but boy, doesn't this style seem like it would fit right in at the Philip Johnson-designed AT&T Building (now the Sony Building) in New York (left), which combines function and ornament in a way that foregrounds the quotations? If you want to over-analyze a bit (and why not, it's a blog!), there are a couple things from postmodernism's Wikipedia page that bear quoting:

Postmodernity is a state of being ... concerned with changes to institutions and conditions. ...[While] modernity [is a] cultural condition characterized by constant change in the pursuit of progress, postmodernity represents the culmination of this process, where constant change has become a status quo and the notion of progress, obsolete.

You can critique the design the same way a lot of people critique Obama's candidacy: it sure looks pretty, but will people really vote for it? Plus, now that I think about it, it is kind of '90s. Too bad the campaign didn't take up the most current design trend: flashing, so-bad-it's good, M.I.A.-style neo-'80s fluorescent ridiculousness. Now that would really say "change."

June 19, 2008

New Music: Italians Get Gritty

It's funny; back in my day, kids, Italian dance music meant "Italo-House," anonymous producers splicing soul vocals onto piano-heavy tracks, like Black Box or the 49ers. You remember "Everybody, Everybody," right, complete with models lip-synching in the video? Well, perhaps reflecting what the New York Times called "a collective funk" in the land of tasty pasta, Italian electronic music has become surprisingly dark these days. XLR8R has a great roundup of some of the current crop of tough-sounding artists, describing the sound as a variety of musical styles "smashed together, chopped, rewound, sped up, and run through a washing machine." If you add that the washer is broken and buzzing and 800 feet tall, then I think you've got it.

After the jump: Bang, scronk, buzz, zoom!

XLR8R lists six up-and-comers; my three favorites are the Bloody Beetroots, Mowgli, and Crookers. Check out this clip of the start of a Beetroots live set in Vienna:

And you thought Justice was hardcore. On a slightly lighter tip, Mowgli apparently moved from Italy to the UK a while back, and his sound has subsequently mellowed; my favorite thing from him recently is a mix of In the Club's "Turn You On" (grab an mp3 at Palms Out Sounds here) whose wobbly bassline gives way to an indie-rock breakdown.

Crookers, the best of the lot, are kind of a combination of these two facets: funky, but completely bonkers. Check out "We Are Prostitutes" (tell me about it!), which features a huge, hoover-like intro then shifts into a bass line that's both atonal and oddly hypnotic.

XLR8R's got more links and info plus another mp3, so props to them. How is Italy making such crazy music? Well, let's turn back to the Times:

“It’s a country that has lost a little of its will for the future,” said Walter Veltroni, the mayor of Rome and a possible future center-left prime minister. “There is more fear than hope.” The problems are, for the most part, not new — and that is the problem. They have simply caught up to Italy over many years, and no one seems clear on how change can come — or if it is possible anymore at all. ... Many worry in the meantime that Italy may share the same fate as the Republic of Venice, based in what many say is the most beautiful of cities, but whose domination of trade with the Near East died with no culminating event. Napoleon’s conquest in 1797 only made it official. Now it is essentially an exquisite corpse, trampled over by millions of tourists. If Italy does not shed its comforts for change, many say, a similar fate awaits it: blocked by past greatness, with aging tourists the questionable source of life, the Florida of Europe.

Mio Dio! I'd probably make music that sounded like approaching space armies and their giant vacuum cleaners too.

Industry Trends: Radio Down, iTunes Up

I know: Pope Catholic, sky blue. But it's the numbers that are pretty surprising. Radio & Records Magazine reports that radio revenue fell even more than everybody expected in May, and the normally staid publication called the numbers "a horror show." Local revenue was down 9% (aaaagh!), national revenue off 13% (eeeek!), people listening down a zillion % (noooo!) . Okay, I can't prove that last one, but I wouldn't bet against it.

On the other side of the industry, iTunes, in contrast, can't be stopped: the online music retailer just sold its five billionth song, also announcing that they're renting and selling over 50,000 movies a day, making iTunes the world's biggest online movie store too. Crimeny, if they start selling groceries I'll never have to leave the house.

New Guns N' Roses Tracks Leak Online

Guns and what now? Oh yeah, there used to be a band called Guns N' Roses, I guess, back in the 19th century or something. For some reason they stopped making music, and then the wait for their new album, Chinese Democracy, stretched into the ridiculous. Okay, it's actually been 14 years since the band's last new material, and now a set of what appear to be real G n' R tracks have leaked online, reports Billboard, prompting a quick cease-and-desist from the band's management. Yesterday, the music site Antiquiet.com briefly posted nine tracks, which have now spread about the intertubes like some sort of liberty-based political system in a large, crowded country. So, do they suck?

Well, if you believe the commenters on Antiquiet, not hardly. "To call this groundbreaking is like saying outer space is 'big,'" explains Johnny Firecloud, and Sam can't even muster up a complete sentence, gurgling, "the energy the musical diversity!!!!" Yes I said yes I will yes!

After the jump: Check 'em out yourself, if you dare...

But are these really real G N' R tracks? Billboard's done their research, reminding us that six of these songs have been leaked already in earlier versions, but these are purported to be "mastered" and "finished." One of the three never-before-leaked songs was performed live by the band in 2001 and 2002. Stereogum has some easy-to-enjoy YouTube versions of a couple tracks (which they're calling "underwhelming") and you can listen to them here:

"Chinese Democracy"

Hey, Axl's getting topical, singing "Blame it on the Falun Gong/
They've seen the end and you can't hold on now."

"This I Love"

In it, Axl croons, "It's not a question whether my heart is true," but I guess the question is whether you can get your heart to finish an album, ay, ay?

As of yet, there has been no announcement of an actual release date, but we'll keep you appraised of developments as they unfold.

June 18, 2008

Warning: This Durex Condom May Be Completely Useless

If you happened to read the tiny print on the back of a box of Durex Avanti condoms before you bought them, you'd see this: "The risks of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STD's), including AIDS (HIV infection), are not known for this condom." Hmm. Since most people, I think, actually use condoms specifically for those purposes, and not for the diminished sensation in their genitals, should this product really be on the market?

"Perfectly reasonable question," said company PR rep Mark Weaving. "And the answer is that these [studies] were completed. When the Avanti first came out in the US, it formed a completely new category of product, so the FDA wanted some extra studies to be done" on the (novel) polyurethane (as opposed to traditional latex) condoms. In the meantime, Durex could sell the condoms as long as it printed the inconspicuous warning on the box. Those additional studies have since been completed and shown slippage and pregnancy rates to be "well within the normal range." (Durex recently announced that it is discontinuing the Avanti, not because of any issue with the product, but to make way for a new version of it.) Still. As you can't really be too careful when it comes to condom effectiveness, it seems the FDA probably should have made the company postpone Avanti's release until the studies were done. And why wouldn't Durex have voluntarily waited to sell the questionable—and crucial—product in the first place? Speculated Weaving, "I think the pregnancy studies can go on for quite a long time."

Navy Spends Your Precious Tax Dollars ... Buying Crate After Crate of Manga

Residents of Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, are concerned about the massive nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington, which is set to be permanently deployed outside their city. Some say the American ship will hurt the fishing industry; others have safety concerns, especially justified after there was a fire on the George Washington last month.

Solution: charm offensive! Specifically, the Navy dropped $72,000 to commission "Manga CVN 73," a 200-page Japanese-style comic book. Produced by two Japanese artists and named after the ship's hull number, it follows the experiences of fictional Japanese-American Petty Officer 3rd Class Jack Ohara. Over 20,000 copies were printed and, earlier this month, a huge crowd lined up outisde the American base to get their free copies. Commented a naval spokesman to the Navy Times:

"The most-read, most-used medium is manga — not TV, not radio, not the Internet. Manga is a traditionally read, heavily sold medium in this country. We went, OK, there you go, the Japanese people have given us the way to talk to them."

Here's my question: Where does this sort of thing appear on the Navy's budget justification? Download the 18 meg .pdf file here here, in Kanji or English text. (via)

Lil Wayne Breaks "A Milli"

Take that, internet naysayers: Lil Wayne's new album Tha Carter III has sold over 1 million copies in the US in its first week, the first time such a figure has been reached since 50 Cent's The Massacre way back in early 2005. Since Wayne has been, shall we say, slatternly when it comes to online mixtapes and file-sharing downloads, the press seems astonished: why are people buying CDs from an artist with so much free stuff out there? The New York Times even set up the dichotomy in the headline, proclaiming that "Despite Leaks Online and File Sharing, Lil Wayne's New CD is a Hit." Maybe they should change that "despite" to a "because"? As file-sharing tracker BigChampagne CEO Eric Garland says in the article, fans who download Lil Wayne grab an average of ten of his tracks (as opposed to two for other artists) and "while people who like an individual song are not going to open their wallets for you, people who like 10 songs will." So having a prodigious amount of your work out there for people to hear may actually help you sell more CDs? Karrr-azy!

Although, as Vulture points out, people may just like candy-themed oral sex metaphors, as both The Massacre and Tha Carter III feature lead singles that "compared a sexual act to the consumption of lollipops." Although if that's the case, why wasn't Lil' Kim's "How Many Licks" a smash?

After the jump: Was Party Ben wrong about Tha Carter III?

Either way, Tha Carter III is getting much better reviews around the intertubes than I gave it here, an 8.7 from Pitchfork, an "oh my god it's so good" from Stereogum, 4.5/5 stars from