So usually I focus on the music, and I might...in a second but right now I want to write something about the films I've watched an re-watched recently. I'm mainly talking about the ones I can remember, so here I go.
Unashamedly I begin this session of film watching in ace 90s grunge/alt. mood. Part one of my essays on Sound will clarify this. So we begin with mid nineties comic-book adap Tank Girl which reins in a lot about that particular times' sub-culture and, like most films that desire to be set in a future reality, actually spend the entire time reflecting the current state. And this is no different. Focussing on the worlds lacking of fuel and water and gearing up for apocalypse (5 years before Y2K we can already see this happening). Of course, by this point we are already in post-apocalypse mode where the Man (Malcolm McDowell) here is confronted by an edgy Lori Petty aka Tank Girl and a bunch of kangaroo-man half breeds (remember the mid-nineties gene splicing craze...no?...remember Dolly the Sheep...cloning comes under that too...). It was fun but at the end I tend to remember Jamie Hewlett's artwork and girl-groups-gone-bad such as Hole more than I do anything that actually happened.
Hexed by this nineties obsession I had growing, I begin watching Daria, the MTV spin-off from Beavis and Butthead. I won't go too much into that but it did lead off into watching both Extract, a Mike Judge (creator of B&B) film and Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey.
Firstly, Extract. Mike Judge is clearly not a director held in too much esteem. And it's pretty good he's not either otherwise he may be expected to rifle out non-comedic tripe and that's good for no-one. Thinking about it, Extract is probably Judge's least ambitious project. Forgetting his cartoon related projects, Judge's previous films, Office Space and Idiocracy have been pretty special. Office Space, which hit screens in 1999 was a late bloomer. It did nothing at the cinema yet became a massive cult thing in the U.S. (not so much over here but it still has its followers. Again, it appealed to both the baby boomers and the Y2K generation with its tale of anonyminity within the workplace and boring yourself to death. It's question of "what would you do with a million dollars?" still floats around and from time to time I give the same answer Peter Gibbons did. Fuckin' a. I seem to remember going to the U.S. a few years back and seeing O.S merch in Hot Topics all over the place. It's been a big favourite of mine for a while and then I saw Idiocracy a film which actually makes more sense if you know a bit about Nietzsche. Funny, no? Well I saw the film about three years ago and, strangely, it cropped up when I wanted to tackle existentialism for my dissertation and my tutor brought up this film and its very simple plot-line of stupid people running the world, which has happened very slowly for a very, very long time. So the idea is that in 1000 years, Joe Average (played by a brilliant Luke Wilson) is now the world's smartest man. It's an amazing simple idea and executed like gold dust. Mike Judge seems to be a genius at making the mundane look interesting. But saying that, I'm still unsure about Extract. Firstly, Jason Bateman seems to be reining in a performance, or should I say, he just play's Jason Bateman. Then the affiliation with JK Simmons brings back echoes of Juno, for a minute I genuinely I though Jennifer Garner was going to play his wife (before I realized it was Kristin Wiig, not playing a weirdo but someone actually fairly layered. There relationship reminded me of the one in High Fidelity. There was a lot good about this film. Mila Kunis was so hot it was untrue and the thick gigolo Brad (don't know his name, but he was very convincing as a dunce) was probably the best character in it. I'm still not ruling out Judge though.
The same day, actually earlier, I saw B&T. Weirdly, I used to watch their Excellent Adventure possibly once every six months but never saw the Bogus Journey. To be honest,it was entertaining but never really went anywhere and was quite forgettable. Also, what was about George Carlin turning into Pam Grier. I love a bit of Pam but she was nowhere near the kind of funny that Rufus was in the first one...damn.
Erm and on with the week. I actually started a job this week so I've only seen a few more (two of which were tonight) but the other one was the magnificent Empire Records. It was probably the third or maybe fourth time I'd seen it and I loved it even more. The musical interludes, the breaking of the fourth wall. Rory Cochrane. Say No More (Mon Amour) is probably worth the DVD price on its own. If you have yet to watch it, do so soon.
Next was History of Violence a film I've probably watched in excess of five or six times. Still doesn't slow down. Reminds me of the grinding atmospherics of the darker Coens like No Country for Old Men and Blood Simple. The more I see it do I notice the fantastic references to Norman Rockwell and the twisted vision of the tiny American town. Cronenberg is probably my third favourite director. I'm no fan of his early work (including Scanners) but Crash, Naked Lunch and Dead Ringers all mark highly in my books. I even thoroughly enjoy eXistenZ.
So lets move on to tonight's viewing where it was very possible that another three hour film has made it into my top ten after Heat and Gangs of New York (although in complete honesty, Gangs didn't really impress on its latest viewing, it's really a bit like the Daniel Day-Lewis show a lot like There Will Be Blood which is very tedious and although atmospheric, it loses pace unlike the magnificent Magnolia. So anyway, that film is Betty Blue a sprawling film about the entirety of the relationship between Betty and Zorg. I've never held out so long on a film and STILL be blown away. Three hours is usually enough to send me asleep. Two is usually good enough, if not pushing it still. The film is essentially split into three parts being the beach, the city and the countryside. For some reason I can't really explain why I dug this so much, but it was very, very cool. But this film has been sitting pretty in my DVD collection for a long while. It took the re-airing of Read My Lips to want to check out the subtitled film. I don't know why, I just need to be in the mood. On re-watch I still really enjoyed the Vincent Cassell film. He's always good for my money (bar Ocean's 12 of course) and it's just the kind of film that wouldn't get made in England or the U.S. (it's main character is a deaf woman who is constantly teased by her male co-workers. I mean, the lefty's over there would have a massive paddy before a female character was degraded in such a way. Especially when the plot develops to show her slightly made and stalker-ish for ex-con lout Paul. It's a great film nonetheless.
That's me done I think, this post has taken me about an hour so I think I'll leave talking about music tonight. Take it easy.
Thursday 25 February 2010
Friday 19 February 2010
The Nature of Sound Pt. 2: The Furthest Destination You Can Place Your Mind
I’m headed to a place I do not recognise. This is not out of a lack of education, but a choice. A choice to formerly be unaware and a choice to go there. Like a broken bottle shattered into tiny glass shards and stuck on a ceiling, the stars remind me of all that has yet to be discovered or understood. Just the same then, certain elements of music have been left untouched, or so we choose to think. The nature of sound is one that leads to forced interpretation of different aspects of everything. There are many alleyways and many doors, we can only go through so many before we hit the proverbial wall and figure that a gap must be there and it must be filled.
I’ve often gazed up and wondered what lies beyond and sound can fill that gap for us. I’ve been listening (in the last year) to music recorded for the stars. It’s exciting shit. Be it the Black Sabbath stuff of their Paranoid album (thinking about “Planet Caravan” as an important one here), or the acid punk of the Flaming Lips or perhaps even the deft sci-fi of the Fall. Sound provokes and tortures, it doesn’t just see the brick wall and is content with standing in front of it; IT KNOCKS THE FUCKER DOWN. And this is my problem...there is so many doors and yet so few are willing to walk/run/crawl/jump through them.
How many times do you think a group of kids have gathered around and wondered about the intentions of their music in the wider market, perhaps even the mainstream? I’m chancing it with not many. Mostly it happens along because they’ve been listening to the first few Oasis records and have been filled with something close to energy. Sometimes it happens because someone figures out that there isn’t a post-dance-fusion band. I know that sound’s horrible. The two imaginary groups often come out sounding similar and that’s due to a lack of definition, not due to an absence of thought.
Sound comes and goes. We all know that trends exist and the A&R guys are often hunting for the next best thing...it’s usually the easiest band to market, but who the fuck cares. At the moment we are stuck in a vortex of choice. There is far too much choice; not only in terms of style or genre but with the way we listen in how we pay; so on so forth. And that is the problem. There is too much music. There is also too much of one thing. Mind numbing, isn’t it? So this is why when the Strokes came about in 2000, the entire decade focussed on indie-boy group rock and simultaneously when Sugababes came about in 2000, the entire decade would focus on dance-girl group pop. So, I’m glad the 2000’s are gone so we can focus on the thing I like about music; the groove.
SO sound comes back to rear its ugly head. I’m begging for the 2010’s to suck out the lifelessness and replace it with subterranean groove. Harsh, sexually provoking groove. There’s something to be said about a rock n roll group with a heavy beat and a pulsating rhythm. I’ve missed it and had to fall back on the 60s and 70s. The 80s had no fun with it, but the 90s brought it back. I’m hoping we just skipped one decade and I won’t have to begging for it when I’m in my thirties or forties. Oh, also, I really hope this fanciful technical shit dies down too. Don’t want that now.
Part three coming soon.
I’ve often gazed up and wondered what lies beyond and sound can fill that gap for us. I’ve been listening (in the last year) to music recorded for the stars. It’s exciting shit. Be it the Black Sabbath stuff of their Paranoid album (thinking about “Planet Caravan” as an important one here), or the acid punk of the Flaming Lips or perhaps even the deft sci-fi of the Fall. Sound provokes and tortures, it doesn’t just see the brick wall and is content with standing in front of it; IT KNOCKS THE FUCKER DOWN. And this is my problem...there is so many doors and yet so few are willing to walk/run/crawl/jump through them.
How many times do you think a group of kids have gathered around and wondered about the intentions of their music in the wider market, perhaps even the mainstream? I’m chancing it with not many. Mostly it happens along because they’ve been listening to the first few Oasis records and have been filled with something close to energy. Sometimes it happens because someone figures out that there isn’t a post-dance-fusion band. I know that sound’s horrible. The two imaginary groups often come out sounding similar and that’s due to a lack of definition, not due to an absence of thought.
Sound comes and goes. We all know that trends exist and the A&R guys are often hunting for the next best thing...it’s usually the easiest band to market, but who the fuck cares. At the moment we are stuck in a vortex of choice. There is far too much choice; not only in terms of style or genre but with the way we listen in how we pay; so on so forth. And that is the problem. There is too much music. There is also too much of one thing. Mind numbing, isn’t it? So this is why when the Strokes came about in 2000, the entire decade focussed on indie-boy group rock and simultaneously when Sugababes came about in 2000, the entire decade would focus on dance-girl group pop. So, I’m glad the 2000’s are gone so we can focus on the thing I like about music; the groove.
SO sound comes back to rear its ugly head. I’m begging for the 2010’s to suck out the lifelessness and replace it with subterranean groove. Harsh, sexually provoking groove. There’s something to be said about a rock n roll group with a heavy beat and a pulsating rhythm. I’ve missed it and had to fall back on the 60s and 70s. The 80s had no fun with it, but the 90s brought it back. I’m hoping we just skipped one decade and I won’t have to begging for it when I’m in my thirties or forties. Oh, also, I really hope this fanciful technical shit dies down too. Don’t want that now.
Part three coming soon.
Wednesday 17 February 2010
The Nature of Sound
I’m not obsessed with sound. By that I mean I’m not a DJ in the pickity sense; I don’t stretch sound to a point of oblivion and I don’t like to distort my favourite records. I am a fan in the traditional sense. I like to hear every note, be it drowned in something unfamiliar or a fingersnapped string from a dead Martin acoustic. Fuck man, I’m not a difficult person. I love lots of different wonderful sounds. Weird ones, loving ones, fucked up ones. Even on occasion, popular ones. But not that often.
Today’s one-on-one belongs to the nature of sound. What CD’s have you listened to that have made you smile? And I’m not talking about lyrical content, or technique; I’m talking about sssssound. Fuck. OK so, the pyschadelic-ness of last year, and the harshness of last year pushed me over to Black Sabbath. WHO NEEDS ANYTHING MORE THAN PYSCH RAWK. I dunno. So yeah, that happened; and you gotta dig the wave man. I suppose that leads to the inevitable usage of hard rock in pop i.e. grunge and 90s alt. Stuff. So: Mudhoney, Pixies, Pavement...this shit is all important. The future of rock n roll is currently in balance. I hope you don’t fucking forget it. I’ll tell you why. It’s because in the 60’s; shit was happening man...and the 70s. There was doom in some places but fuck, man, people still dug the music. Everytime I think about how awesome the reverb drenched distortion of my Marshall amp is I smile. Not much else has that effect, surely. And let’s not forget about surf either. And I’m talking Dick Dale/Link Wray shit. Don’t fuck with me.
Ok, so that’s all good news, but why am I writing bullshit about my amp and whatnot, but I dunno. I listened to the new Blood Red Shoes record and I SAW IT MAN...I saw the past, present of future and IT WASN’T DEAD. Although listening to the most recent Demons LP “Contact High” and you’d think that too. Damn man. DJ’s man, fucking take what you want but you can’t take my rock and roll. Not without a fucking fight. Anyway, this intrigue into sound has also boosted my respect of Neil Young and not just the well respected stuff like the first ten years which has recently took a lot of praise mainly due to the release of the Archives boxed set and a whole bunch of live LP’s from that time. No, anyway, I do really fuckin like that stuff but Weld...man...that’s an LP right there. Live and pulverising to the max. Love it. Death pounding on the face of existence. Who doesn’t need that.
So yeah. The reasoning behind this comes from something deep inside. Like a call inside my broken messed up drugged out mind SCREAMING SHOUTING HOLERING at me with the slogan DON’T FUCK WITH MY ROCK N ROLL. And i say that cos I see these skinny kids, with their sub-culture approved hairstyles and the thick rimmed Elvis Costello throwback glasses and the shitty checked shirts and I’m like...fuck...what happened? Rock n roll has always been about style, drugs ...whatnot...but it’s always been ‘cool’? I don’t know what’s happened now. All these kids. I’m worried they don’t know what rock n roll is. Fuck, they don’t even call it rock n roll anymore. They call it something like rockcore. Shit, I don’t care.
Part 2 on Sound tomorrow.
Today’s one-on-one belongs to the nature of sound. What CD’s have you listened to that have made you smile? And I’m not talking about lyrical content, or technique; I’m talking about sssssound. Fuck. OK so, the pyschadelic-ness of last year, and the harshness of last year pushed me over to Black Sabbath. WHO NEEDS ANYTHING MORE THAN PYSCH RAWK. I dunno. So yeah, that happened; and you gotta dig the wave man. I suppose that leads to the inevitable usage of hard rock in pop i.e. grunge and 90s alt. Stuff. So: Mudhoney, Pixies, Pavement...this shit is all important. The future of rock n roll is currently in balance. I hope you don’t fucking forget it. I’ll tell you why. It’s because in the 60’s; shit was happening man...and the 70s. There was doom in some places but fuck, man, people still dug the music. Everytime I think about how awesome the reverb drenched distortion of my Marshall amp is I smile. Not much else has that effect, surely. And let’s not forget about surf either. And I’m talking Dick Dale/Link Wray shit. Don’t fuck with me.
Ok, so that’s all good news, but why am I writing bullshit about my amp and whatnot, but I dunno. I listened to the new Blood Red Shoes record and I SAW IT MAN...I saw the past, present of future and IT WASN’T DEAD. Although listening to the most recent Demons LP “Contact High” and you’d think that too. Damn man. DJ’s man, fucking take what you want but you can’t take my rock and roll. Not without a fucking fight. Anyway, this intrigue into sound has also boosted my respect of Neil Young and not just the well respected stuff like the first ten years which has recently took a lot of praise mainly due to the release of the Archives boxed set and a whole bunch of live LP’s from that time. No, anyway, I do really fuckin like that stuff but Weld...man...that’s an LP right there. Live and pulverising to the max. Love it. Death pounding on the face of existence. Who doesn’t need that.
So yeah. The reasoning behind this comes from something deep inside. Like a call inside my broken messed up drugged out mind SCREAMING SHOUTING HOLERING at me with the slogan DON’T FUCK WITH MY ROCK N ROLL. And i say that cos I see these skinny kids, with their sub-culture approved hairstyles and the thick rimmed Elvis Costello throwback glasses and the shitty checked shirts and I’m like...fuck...what happened? Rock n roll has always been about style, drugs ...whatnot...but it’s always been ‘cool’? I don’t know what’s happened now. All these kids. I’m worried they don’t know what rock n roll is. Fuck, they don’t even call it rock n roll anymore. They call it something like rockcore. Shit, I don’t care.
Part 2 on Sound tomorrow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)