SONG OF THE DAY (#259)

'anyone anywhere,' by ashby

boston-based ashby is comprised of evelyn pope [songs, vox] and bill cowie [instruments, knob-twiddling]. in 2001 they released their debut, the amusingly-titled 'power ballads,' and 2005 they released 'looks like you already won.' it's another one of those albums that should've been huge, but the profileration of readily-available music and kids with garageband these days makes that a tough enterprise.

if you've ever enjoyed the sea and cake, the cardigans, saint etienne, birdie, or stereolab, you're sure to get a kick out of ashby. the songs go down like liquid velvet. personally, i love the bossa nova influence. i've rarely met a brass section i didn't like, as you know by now. flutes! french horns! trombones! trumpets! awesome. always awesome. big kudos to bill cowie and his nice productions touches and big kudos to evelyn pope for her smooth-as-silk vocals. nice job, guy and gal.

here are a few samples, all of which come from 'looks like you've already won.' enjoy!

→ ashby: anyone, anywhere
→ ashby: getting started
→ ashby: he likes the sound

SONG OF THE DAY (#258)

'somebody's baby,' by el perro del mar.

el perro del mar's 'god knows [you gotta give to get] was one of the very first songs of the day when i started this almost two years ago, so naturally i have a bit of a soft spot in my heart for her. maybe it's cos she writes perfect pop songs, maybe it's 'cos she's completely adorable, maybe it's 'cos she's from sweden [shocking, i know]; all i know is that i hope the recipe doesn't change 'cos she is magnificent. i really dig her.

it's really nice when someone can mine familiar territory [in this case 60's girl groups] without sounding like a cheap knockoff or a corny parody. with a lot bands mining said territory these days you'd think the vein would have long since dried up. but thanks to sarah assbring, the sound is alive and well, and most importantly, totally genuine. i'm a sucker for doo-wap harmonies and sarah's got 'em in spades. tob job all around.

oh, and by the way, 'somebody's baby' is off the new album which drops february 27th in her homeland and april 22 stateside. i've had the good fortune of hearing it and it's super duper great! so be sure to buy it when it comes out.

→ el perro del mar: somebody's baby
→ el perro del mar: how did we forget
→ el perro del mar: god knows [you've got to give to get]

things i love: alexandre desplat scores

i used to work at a music store. ok, it wasn't a 'music store' in the traditional sense. it was one of those media stores. you know, music, books, movies, electronics, etc. i think media play was the first corporate entertainment store in utah county, so for a few years it really was the place to be. when i got home from spain, i really wanted to work there [my sister had written me and told me about it]. sure, the pay was lousy, the hours lousier, but it was a lot of fun. i went in for an interview and dazzled them my presumed encyclopedic knowledge of music. they hired me on the spot. literally. [looking back, however, i'm pretty sure they were just desperate]. so, i donned the blue apron and spent my days wandering the music shelves and i loved it. all music, all the time.

at the time, of course, i had an inflated sense of self regarding all things music and i tended to look down on anyone who didn't love and appreciate the same bands i did. [don't worry, i'm a reformed music snob now.] i used to roll my eyes and shake my head whenever someone asked where to find the bon jovi CDs, if we had the new 'manti' steamroller christmas album, or was looking for the beatles 'anthropology.' 'morons!' i said. 'morons!'

but what really irked me was the sheer number of motion picture soundtracks and scores we used to sell. i'll include showtunes [you know, broadway stuff] in that group, too. we simply never had enough 'phantom of the opera' or 'legends of the fall' CDs. ever. the second we stocked 'em, someone snatched them up. what was most puzzling, and remains so to this day, is how 14 year old girls bought 'legends of the fall' soundtracks, as if tristan himself were inside the jewel case. sorry, gals, but he got eaten by the bear at the end, which i have to admit, was the best part of an otherwise terrible, awful, horrible movie. 'but it's not real music!' i protested...to no one. 'it's just a bunch of sound!' see, at this time of my life i didn't really get music sans vocals. 'classical' music? psh! 'where are the vocals?!' yes, yes--i was a sad case. i fully confess to it.

as i grew up and matured, i gradually became less anal and more appreciative of all kinds of music. i embraced hiphop [well, some of it], bubble gum pop [i maintain that the spice girls are one of the greatest groups of all time!], jazz [i love me some chet and miles] and bossanova [i love me some tom jobim!]. the most surprising change, however, was with respect to soundtracks. i listen to them all the time now. how did it happen? well, i can even pinpoint the moment the light went on: the phantom menace. 'how's that?' you ask. well, when 'the phantom menace' came out, i remember being struck by john williams' score. i wasn't a real big movie buff at the time, so i didn't understand the score's integral place in a movie. but i went out and bought the soundtrack after i saw the movie. and i loved it! i listened to it all the time, even when i worked out. i loved the imagery it evoked, and marveled at its power to elicit an emotion with a simple chord change. i was in awe of a composer's ability to blend so many different instruments into one cohesive whole. i also fell in love with the oboe. a finer sounding instrument you simply will not find.

a few years later a friend of mine let me borrow her copy of alexandre desplat's score for 'the luzhin defence.' i'd never heard of movie or the french composer, but since i love discovering new things, i gladly listened to it. wow! to say i was overwhelmed would be an understatment. i'd never heard anything so beautiful in a motion picture score. it was muted, understated, wonderfully evocative; and most importantly, it was genuinely emotional instead of sappily sentimental. sometimes the line between the two is razor thin, but desplat never crosses it. over the years alexandre desplat have gained more and more recognition, just as i predicted he would in this review i posted on amazon.com a couple of years ago. since he scored 'the luzhin defence,' he's gone on to score 'the girl with the pearl earring,' 'casanova,' 'the golden compass,' 'the queen,' 'syriana,' firewall,' 'birth,' 'the painted veil,' and most recently, 'lust, caution.' they're all wonderful scores. in fact, the score for 'the painted veil' prompted me to see the movie--and 'the painted veil' was easily my favorite movie last year. it's devastating. i can't recommend it enough.

there's not a day that goes by where i don't get a least a little dose of alexandre desplat. he's my reading/go-to-sleep music and i wouldn't have it any other way.

→ alexandre desplat: luzhin defence [from 'the luzhin defence']
→ alexandre desplat: love theme [from 'the luzhin defence']
→ alexandre desplat: the end of innocence [from 'lust, caution]
→ alexandre desplat: falling rain [from 'lust, caution']
→ alexandre desplat: hrh [from 'the queen']
→ alexandre desplat: colours in the clouds [from 'the girl with the pearl earring]

R.I.P CLUB DV8

if you live in the greater salt lake city, you've not doubt heard by now that club dv8 went up in flames the other night. apparently the building was abandoned at the time and thankfully no one was injured. according to the coppers, it was most likely accidentally set by a squatter and was the largest fire in salt city in many years. the building was unsalvageable and was bulldozed the next day. it's always sad to see an old building go, particularly when they've been around for a century or longer. those old buildings give a city its charm and i can't help but believe the dv8 building has taken a tiny part of the city's soul with it...

i've seen a few shows at dv8 since 1992 when i saw the beautiful south there. that was a great show from one of my top five all-time favorite bands. i went with my girlfriend at the time and my sister, morgan, and future brother-in-law where there, too. good times were definitely had by all. it remains one of my favorite shows ever. i saw the 'shaving the pavement tour' there in 1995 [i know several of you were at that show, too]. that was the first and only time i saw lush, mojave 3 and scheer, but it was a great show. in 2002 i saw badly drawn boy there. it was a 2.5 hour set complete with an intermission. it was exhausting, but it was fun. a year later i saw balligomingo open for gus gus with my sister, annika. so no, i didn't see a ton of shows there, but those i did were a blast. there might have been another show or two in there, but this sieve of a memory i've got doesn't hold the info like it used to. thanks, dv8, for the good times! rest in peace...

here are some selections from the shows i saw there. enjoy.

→ the beautiful south: woman in the wall
→ lush: for love
→ scheer: wish you were dead
→ badly drawn boy: disillusion
→ gus gus: polyesterday
→ balligomingo: purify

SONG OF THE DAY (#257)

'it's a wonderful li[f]e,' by [the real] tuesday weld

tin pan alley revivalist stephen coates, a.k.a. [the real] tuesday weld, released his most recent effort, 'the london book of the dead,' last august. i was a big fans of his two previous albums, 'the return of the clerkenwell kid' and 'i, lucifer,' so i had high hopes for the new one. while it didn't immediately grab me like those two albums, it's still a really great record and i'm completely mystified as to why this dood isn't more popular, or at least more well known. his song 'the ugly and the beautiful' got some play on fx's 'nip/tuck,' but it didn't seem to help gain any traction. shame, that. he certainly deserves more recognition.

if you're not familair with him already, stephen coates studied visual arts at university before leaving that field and turning to music. he's been fairly prolific since the turn of the century, releasing five proper albums and a slew of e.p.'s. he's one of those artists who really doesn't really sound like anyone else working these days, and in his case it's a good thing. he's a very skilled musician and arranger. he cites britain-based band leader al bowlley as a primary influence, though you could make comparisons to the likes of burt bacharach and serge gainsbourg [but without the sleeze]. but whatever comparisons you want to make, he's a singular artist with a unique sound and i think you'll dig 'em. in fact, were i a gambling man i'd wager some major coin you end up loving him.

��� [the real] tuesday weld: it's a wonderful li[f]e
��� [the real] tuesday weld: i believe

some thoughts on 'cloverfield'

'the bomb could go off and their mutant genes would form the same cliques.' -- d.c., 'say anything.'

i couldn't help but think about that classic line from my favorite non-emipire-strikes-back movie while i was watching the first twenty or so minutes of the drew goddard-penned 'cloverfield.' [in case you're not in the know, drew goddard has written for 'buffy,' 'angel,' 'alias,' and 'lost,' and is set to write a four-issue arc in the 'buffy' comic book.] i think it's kind of a given that people in the movies are going to exponentially more attractive than the average person. it's part of the allure of the cinema. but the kids in 'cloverfield' are off-the-charts hot. i mean really, really, really hot. all of 'em. and of course they're all friends. they all hang out together in ritzy manhattan lofts. they all hook up and spawn equally beautiful children. if movies are about escaping reality and i guess that alternate reality is populated by people of a mathematical beauty. i guess if i were to creatve an alternate reality i'd make everyone superhot, too. i'm just sayin'.

i think this is where drew goddard's sense of wicked sense of humor comes in. the going-away party full of beautiful people is a brilliant set-up, and for me made 'cloverfield' all the more satisfying. sure, it's a genuinely scary movie. i must have jumped out of my seat a good 1/2 dozen times. the effects are awesome [especially when the tanks show up downtown manhattan and start pummeling the monster. you even get a really cool shot of a stealth bomber dropping bombs on the thing]. the monster, for his part, is scary as heck, even though you really never get a good look at it. and don't get me started on the parasites it drops off its body. uberscary, those [note to self: never go in the subway when a monster is on the loose. just don't]. you definitely get a bang or two for your buck. but i gotta admit, it sure is fun to see the beautiful people get the living crap beat out of 'em. they get smashed, eaten, trapped, chased, flung like frisbees, and otherwise tossed around like ragdolls. i admit that along with the thrills, the chase, the escape, the mass destruction and mayhem, i got some small pleasure out of seeing the beautiful people get their comeuppance. not that they necessarily deserve it, but let's face it, they kind of do. after all, they didn't invite any average-looking people to the party. so serves 'em right.

as far as a story, 'cloverfield' does good by the viewer. [there be spoilers in this here paragraph, so if you don't want to know what happens, skip ahead to the next paragraph] in short, a group of flawlessly beautiful people have gathered together in a ritzy new york loft to throw a surprise party for their hot friend, rob, who's about to move to japan after a recent promotion to v.p. of something for some company. i don't remember all the details, so don't ask. anyway, rob's friend, hud, is in charge of getting some video testimonials about the guest of honor from the assembled hot people, so he walks around with a camera while everyone gushes about how hot, er, awesome, rob is. all's well until the uberhot beth shows up with another dood. rob, who's been in love with beth since, like, pre-school [or something like that], and had a little fling with her a month prior [you see occasional footage interspliced with the monster coverage--hud is actually recording over beth and rob's happy day of roller coasters and hot dogs at coney island] is none to happy and ends up doing his best 'afflicted' routine. michael stahl-david is actually pretty good as our tortured and conflicted hero. way to go, dood. somehow rob manages to get hair tousled hair just-so, so that it looks like he's just gone to the salon and got it styled for a night of clubbing. so while rob is doing his best james dean, all hell breaks loose. after a misguided escape attempt across the brooklyn bridge our heroes [now a group of 5 -- rob, rob's brother jason, hud, marlena (the object of hud's affection and nick andopolis' dancing partner is 'freaks and geeks'), and lily, beth's best friend] make a mad dash for safety while rob contemplates going after beth, who left with that same other dood, when she got tired of rob's pouting. rob convinces the gang to initiate OPERATION: RESCUE BETH, and of course they all agree. then the real fun begins. i won't say too much, but probably the scariest moment takes place in a department store where the military has setup a triage. remember these words: WE GOT A BITE! horrifying stuff! but very awesome at the same time. i'll won't give away any more of the story, but suffice to say, not everyone makes it out alive. there are some genuinely nice moments that bring a nice gravity [particularly the final scene], as well as levity ['it's a terrible thing!'], to the film. the actors, for the most part, really dig into their roles and are uniformly convincing in their terror. i'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of them in the future. so, in there a point to it all? is there a moral to the story? i think so and it is this: don't be too hot, else a monster might come eat you.

i really, really loved this movie. i'll probably see it again. i might even buy it. i've always enjoyed smaller, personal stories within big events and 'cloverfield' certainly works on that level. it was a smart move by goddard and director matt reeves to keeping the drama localized to street level. i think it's much more effective to show the mayhem from the characters' point of view. the hand-held camera puts you in the characters' shoes and lets you feel what they feel and experience what they experience. and even though all the central characters are super hot, you do feel some real sympathy for them, especially at the end. i guess even the beautiful people have problems, least of which are giant monsters. do they deserve it? yes. ok, maybe that's harsh. but even if they do deserve it, it doens't mean you can't feel badly for them at the same time.

now a caveat: if you suffer from motion sickness, take some dramamine before you sit down in the theatre. 'cloverfields' central conceit is showing the drama through a hand-held camera. consequently, you get a LOT of blurry, shaky images. since our heroes spend most of their time running, you get a lot of uncomfortable viewing angles and you'll end up craning your neck a lot. it didn't bother me, but it will certainly bother a lot of people. so be advised. another caveat: don't eat a red robin bacon burger before you see this movie. kevin did. he regretted it.

spitcake verdict: see it, but take some dramamine beforehand.

GREAT GOOGLEY MOOGLEY -- YAZOO IS BACK TOGETHER!

so i just got this email from my friend dean, which he in turn got from someone else. i'm not sure if i believe it yet. it's too good to be true....

'For the first time in more than 25 years, British dance duo Yazoo -- known as Yaz in the United States -- will reunite for a series of shows in the U.K. and U.S. this summer.

The Reconnected tour kicks off at the Glasgow Clyde Auditorium in and continues for four more dates, finishing June 18 at London's Hammersmith Apollo. U.S. dates are yet to be announced.

Tickets for the European shows go on sale Friday January 25 through the band's Web site, then go up for general sale Feb. 1

"In Your Room," a four-disc collection of remasters, remixes, B-sides, a DVD and the band's only two albums "Upstairs at Eric's" and "You and Me Both," is also set for release in May.

Group members Vince Clarke and Alison Moyet parted ways in the summer of 1983, after the success of their singles "Only You" and "Don't Go," plus the U.K. chart-topper "You and Me Both."

Clarke has spent the rest of his career in Erasure; singer Moyet has released a number of solo albums, including last year's "Turn."'

well, this is about 1,432 kinds of awesome. possibly more. i never got the chance to see yazoo live [i was going on ten when they broke up], but they were one of the first bands i ever loved. i remember being about 15 years old and hearing 'only you' for the first time. wow, what a moment. one night i put in 'upstairs at erics' and listened to it about four or five time straight through as i was falling asleep. them are some great memories right there. here's something for gee-whiz collection: vince wrote 'only you' as a parting gift to the remaining members of depeche mode when he left the band. depeche, of course, refused it. can't say i blame 'em, really. it's not really a depeche song, you know? it's hard to imagine dave gahan singing it, innit? so vince gave it to alf and it went on to hit #2 on the UK charts.

up to this point the only live yazoo i've heard is a 'live at the bbc' concert someone over that born again 80s forum posted a few months back. if you're interested in hearing it, you can download it here. the quality is quite remarkable considering it was digitized from vinyl. it's all stuff off 'upstairs at eric's' and it's even got an instrumental track called 'china.' wow, that!

so the only questions now is who wants to go with me with they come stateside?

man, i'm stoked.

→ yazoo: only you [original version]
→ yazoo: only you [richard stanner 1999 remix]
→ yazoo: situation [original version]
→ yazoo: situation [richard x remix]
→ yazoo: the other side of love [12"]
→ yazoo: nobody's diary
→ yazoo: walk away from love
→ yazoo: state farm

SONG OF THE DAY (#256)

'there are birds,' by the ruby suns

chalk up another one for the kiwis! [i've been watching 'flight of the conchords' over and over and over and laughing myself silly the last few weeks, hence 'another.']

i hadn't heard of the ruby suns before last week, but apparently their first album was pretty well-received. i need to check that one out. mental note to self: check out the first ruby suns record. their newest album, 'sea lion,' drops march 4 via subpop. it's a great little record. lots and sunshiny pop songs inspired by ruby sun frontman ryan mcphun's globetrotting adventures.

here's the dealio from the bands' u.k. label, memphis industries: "sea lion, the new album from new zealand's the ruby suns, bursts with imagery from the natural world. classic summery pop tunes are appealingly coupled with a dizzying breadth of musical styles from african and polynesian folk music, to flamenco, to eighties synth pop, to disney movie soundtracks. everything's underpinned by a style reminiscent of US indie experimentalists animal collective [awesome], early mercury rev [awesome] and olivia tremor control [awesome]. it's an album that'll charm the birds from the trees, invite them in for a cup of tea and teach 'em to talk.' i couldn't have said it better myself, so i didn't bother to try.

stick around for the second half of 'morning son.' it's an exhilrating song. you can check out the ruby sun here. i highly suggest you do.

→ the ruby suns: there are birds
→ the ruby suns: morning son

ch-ch-ch-changes

bear with me while i make some changes. i know next to nothing about html, xml, and web design, so if things look a little skeewompled during the next few days, hang in there while i figure it out.

thanks!

SONG OF THE DAY (#255)

'd.a.r.l.i.n.g.,' by beach house

i dig these kids. i don't really know how to describe them -- sort of brian wilson on lsd? oh wait...he did that. um, well, let's see. i guess you could ascribe any number of superlatives 'cos that's what music nerds do. so you could say things lik 'lo-fi,' 'dreamy,' 'hypnotic,' 'mesmerizing,' eh, tons more like that. i'll stick with just one: awesome.

here's where i normally give you a little band info, but mackenzie wilson over AMG sums it up quite nicely: 'it's [beach houses'] sound as a whole that really makes [them] an interesting listen; legrand's vocals tread so lightly throughout, making it easy to get lost in the gossamer beauty of the band's work.' gossamer. there's another good word. i'm really digging these guys. a lot. you should, too, because wurlitzer drum beats are always cool. always.

they're set to release their second album, 'devotion,' on february 26. i've heard it. it's ace. go buy it when it comes out. seriously. and i have to say that it's kind of funny that on their website they write they're 'finally coming to salt lake city' on march 21 and that we should all 'dust off our prom dresses.' i don't know what that means, but it sounds like a good time. so all you salt lake city people mark your calendars: kilby court, march 21, beach house. be there. that is all.

check out their website here and their myspace page here.

→ beach house: d.a.r.l.i.n.g
→ beach house: all the years

SONG OF THE DAY (#254)

'doing all the things that wouldn't make your parents proud,' by the pains of being pure at heart

there's a mouthful.

these guys are getting tons of pub/hype right now. you know how i feel about hype, but i think this is a case where they product actually delivers. besides, they sound like the jesus and mary chain [the hope sandoval years], so they are automatically awesome. you could also make some valid comparisons the valentines and ride, both amazing bands.

i don't know much about them, but i love these songs: thick, hazy, poppy, melodic, rock 'n rolly three-chord songs. ah, the beauty of simplicity. it just don't get much better than that. but they might want to look into some shorter song titles. i'm just sayin'. you can check out the band here. the bandwagon leaves in 10 minutes, so best get on...

[i just listened to a song of there's called 'orchard of my eye' -- it's a clone of my bloody valentine's 'thorn.' again, i'm just sayin' -- maybe i'll post 'em both tomorrow so you can hear for yourselves.]

→ the pains of being pure at heart: doing all the things that wouldn't make your parents proud
→ the pains of being pure at heart: the pains of being pure at heart

SONG OF THE DAY (#253)

'now i must remember,' by bent

it's a real shame bent's 2004 album, 'aerials,' never saw a domestic release in the states [as least as far as my research indicates]. it's even a bigger shame that in this day and age there are such things as mutually exclusive UK deals and US deals. i don't know all the ins and outs of the music biz [nor do i care to], but with the internet making the world so much smaller and music being so readily available, it seems odd that a UK act should have to even chase a US record or distribution deal. but that's another story for another day and a whole stadium of lawyers to figure out.

if you're not already famililar with bent, simon mills and neil tolliday 'met as housemates and formed the flippantly picturesque bent ��� a group earmarking a page somewhere between an early morning air and a less cacophonic bently rhythm ace.' [allmusicguide]. with their third long player, bent opted for sound more along lines of a more ethereal zero 7 [if such a thing is possible]. and like most dj's/musicians, they've employed a variety of vocalist to sing their tunes. katty heath [can't find anything on her] lends her breathy vocals to 'now i must remember' and 'as you fall,' and rachel foster chimes in on 'sing me.' i know this isn't everyone's cup of tea, especially you syrupy-acoustic-guitar-whispery-vocals types; but as for me and my earphones, i love it. especially on days like today when it's 18 degrees outside. good lordie.

��� bent: now i must remember
��� bent: as you fall
��� bent: sing me

the unvalentine

some of you know my friend jesse draper [and if you don't, you should!] if you do know him, you know what an incredible artist he is. i've seen the man work -- he's brilliant. really, really brilliant. a couple of summers ago we were all down at the beach for a week and dood was pumping out paintings left and right. amazin'. i've also seen a lot of his portaits and wow, dood can paint. i envy his talents.

a few days before christmas jesse dropped by the house and gave me a copy of 'the unvalentine,' a book written by sam beeson and illustrated by the man himself, jesse draper. [having connections is awesome and free books is even awesomer--thanks, j!] it was only a day or two earlier that i knew the book even existed. apparently he worked on this project for awhile, but it was time well-spent 'cos it's a great little book. if you're like me and you get a little cynical every february 14th, this is the book for you. if you get sick of all the mushy, gushy pepto-pink happenings on that cursed day, this book is for you. if underneath it all you're a marshmallow, like me, this book is for you. you'll be smiling from start to finish. what's cool about the book is that it even comes with 'unvalentines.' you can tear them out and give to your fellow unvalentines.

'the unvalentine' is on sale at amazon.com and the usual online retailers, and if you're in the greater salt lake city area, you can pick it up at deseret book. i think jesse said it would be on sale at target and wal-mart, too. check it out. and i'm not just saying that 'cos jesse is my friend. it really is cool and funny book. so buy it. that it all.

some thoughts on 'juno'

when i first saw the trailer for 'juno' i thought it looked like it had a solid shot at being a brilliant movie. it seemed to have all the right ingredients: a smart script, winning actors [i love micheal and george michael bluth], and plenty of charm. i don't actually hit the cineplex that often anymore, but i actually looked forward to the film.

then i started reading endless reviews from critics falling all over themselves praising it's 'witty dialogue.' witty dialogue this, witty dialogue that. witty, witty, witty. i couldn't find a single review that didn't comment on 'juno's' so-called 'witty dialogue.' so when i finally went to see it, i was expecting some darn witty dialogue.

but before anything else, what i want know is when kitty pryde and george michael [not to be confused with the singer-songwriter] bluth hooked up. and more importantly, what's wolvering gonna do about it? forget a shotgun wedding. we're talking an adamantium claw wedding! word that. i suppose george michael could always enlist his uncle buster's hook/claw should wolverine actually try to slash up him up. wolverine v. buster--cagematch! i'd sell tickets to that dance. it also warms the heart that sydney bristow has retired from the spying and settled into suburbia. i was worried about her after her alias days. i hear the transition from international spy to domestic goddess can be difficult. question: how did she hook up with michael bluth? and does michael bluth know his son is the father of the baby spy syndey bristow wants to adopt? if he knew, maybe he got weirded out at the prospect of adopting his own grandchild. i'm just speculating, of course, but maybe that's why he split. personally, i blame the whole problem [i.e. pregnancy] on the banana stand. i'm just sayin'.

but in all seriousness, i have to say i was disappointed with the 'witty dialogue,' which to me wasn't witty at all. to my ears it sounded forced, rehearsed, practiced, disruptive, and totally phony. too me it seemed ms. cody was trying just way too hard to be 'hip' or 'cool' or 'indie' or whatever superlative you can come up with. in other words, a gimmick. and i loathe gimmicks. loathe, loathe, loathe. i don't care how precocious a 'whip-smart' teenage girl is [smart enough to name droop the stooges, but not smart enough, apparently, to use contraception]--no one speaks like that. and those who do, should be karate chopped in the ear. there were so many times that juno's [the character] 'witty dialogue' completely took me out of the film and reminded me that i was watching a movie instead of getting lost in a story.

it's too bad because it's a genuinely good story and a very decent movie. i liked it. i really did. solid performances all arouhd. ellen page, aside from the dialogue given her, is a revelation. michael cera is, as always, sublime. it's also got career-enhancing performances from jason bateman and jennifer garner [she's particularly good]. the supporting cast is excellent, too. it's very funny and very touching at all the right times. but the 'witty dialogue' actually kept me from totally loving and embracing it wholeheartedly. i'd definitely recomment seeing it, but don't believe the massive amounts of hype surrounding this movie proclaiming diablo cody as some sort of word magician. it's a very good movie, youbetcha. but is it great? well, it is if you're a hipster because it panders to your presumed hipness. then you're required to love it with your whole heart and proclaim it the. best. movie. ever. ever. ever!!!!!!!!!!

spitcake verdict: see it, don't buy it.

→ morrissey: pregnant for the last time
→ aqualung: baby goodbye

SONG OF THE DAY (#252)

'feel you now,' by the autumn defense

the next time you drive up and down PCH [if you haven't yet done it, i highly recommend you do it at least once in your lifetime], i think you'd be well advised to take along the autumn defense's self-titled third album for you driving music.

john stirrat [he of wilco and the uncle tupelo] and pat sasone really outdid themselves on this one. it's an incredibly textured and nuanced album, so wonderfully produced and so expertly and deftly played. i admit that i this kind of music regularly [i certainly enjoy it, but you know, i have to to be in the right mood], but i admire so much what they've done and i so appreciate the skill behind it that wow, it's hard not to get lost in it. this is what cali should sound like--golden, lazy summer evenings with the pacific ocean nipping at your toes. yeah.

→ the autumn defense: feel you now
→ the autumn defense: this will fall away [i said it before, i'll say it again: flute solos rock the scene!]

SONG OF THE DAY (#251)

'to be surprised,' by sondre lerche

ever since badly drawn boy struck gold with his 'about a boy' soundtrack,' directors, producers, and writers have been trying to strike gold a second time. you can hardly blame them, can you? the 'about a boy' soundtrack is probably one of the best, if not the best, original soundtrack in many a years. at least it's on of my favorites.

curiously enough, peter hedges, who wrote the screenplay for 'about a boy,' also wrote 'dan in real life,' and true to form, 'dan in real life' features a winner of a soundtrack by sondre lerche. it's not as immediately brilliant as badly drawn boy's soundtrack, but it's still better than most. it's vintage lerche all around--the slightly jazzy riffs, the complex chord structures, and sondre's reliably great vocals. as an added attraction, 'hell no' features guest vocals by regina spektor.

→ sondre lerche: to be surprised
→ sondre lerche: hell no [w/regina spektor]

SONG OF THE DAY (#250)

'down on the ground,' by british sea power

it's nice to see british sea power in the news again. i'm a big fan of their first two albums, 'the decline of british sea power' and 'open season.' sometimes i like to just rock out and ram my head against walls and poles. british sea power is excellent for that. turn up the amps, unleash the guitars, chew up and spit out earnest singer-songwriter types then bash their own acoustic guitars over grimmaced faces. wow, did i just write that?

ok, so british sea power's new one, 'do you like rock music?' [yes! silly question, lads] drops soon and it's a worthy addition to the british sea power canon--lots of 'epic' tracks with 'swirling guitars' and 'nods to joy division and echo & the bunnymen & the manic street preachers.' i love joy division, the bunnymen, and the manics, so it's all good with me. if you're looking for a more contemporary comparison, editors is a good choice.

all hail british sea power! aye, aye cap'n!

→ british sea power: down on the ground
→ british sea power: open the door

SONG OF THE DAY (#248/#249)

'je changerais d'avais,' by francois hardy
'poupee de cire, poupee de son,' by france gall

i can't even tell you how much i lived in london or paris in 1967. the style, the fashion, the music....sigh. so, so, so cooool.

anyway, i love me a french chanteuse, or ye-ye singer as they're called in the verancular. ye-ye singers took all best bits from the u.s. and u.k. pop scene and gave it a jazzy, french twist. francois hardy, france gall, and bridget bardot were easily the biggest names--and rightfully so. they released some amazing stuff. they'd give any motown girl groups a serious run for their buck. i know francois and france have 'best of's,' ['cos i have 'em] and i highly, highly recommend them. i haven't the first idea what they're singing about, but when the melodies are this tight, i don't really care. like most good music, it takes me to another time and place. it also makes me want to don my ivy cap and burberry scarf. for reals.

france gall won the 1965 eurovision contest with 'poupee de cire, poupee de son,' and belle and sebastian did a cover of it way back in the day. it's a great little song -- in fact, they're all little. you'd be hard pressed to find a song by france or francois coming in at over three minutes.

i wish all the girls dressed like francois hardy. that would highly awesome because she is a fox. word.

→ francois hardy: je changrais d'avis
→ francois hardy: je t'aime
→ france gall: poupee de cire, poupee de son
→ france gall: quand on ensemble

SONG OF THE DAY (#247)

'start again,' by teenage fanclub

sometimes i'm just in awe of the slew of great records releases 1997. it was a banner year in my book and one i'll always look back at fondly and lovingly. it was the year i moved back to cali and i bought a ton of cds and i went to a ton of shows--as many as three a week, which is saying something considering i lived about 70 miles from l.a. at the time. it was exhausting, but it was totally worth it. i think if you were to ask anyone who was big into the scene in those days--i saw all the same folks at all the same shows--i'm sure they'd say it was one of the best years of their lives. it was certainly one of mine. it was like being part of a movement--a tiny movement, to be sure--but a movement nonetheless. it was super cool to feel like a part of something that most people hadn't the foggiest idea about.

not least among all those great records from that year was teenage fanclub's 'songs from northern britain.' in fact, it was probably one the better albums from 1997, but the likes of oasis, suede, blur, pulp and radiohead dominated the charts of the headlines. naybe it was because teenage fanclub didn't care about innovating; maybe it was because they were content to take a classicist approach to songwriting. maybe it was the merging of big star-esque power pop with byrds-esque harmonies in a time where not a whole lot of bands weren't doing that. who knows. all i know is that teenage fanclub is still one of the finest bands around. in 1991 spin magazine named their major-label debut, 'bandwagonesque,' their top album of the year. that's quite an honor, methinks. go do your homework and see what else was released that year ['nevermind,' for one] and it makes that placing all the more impressive.

'start again,' for me, is the quintessential teenage fanclub song. it's all about the harmony and melody. amazing stuff. the band released its most recent album, 'man-made,' in 2005 and spawned the equally gorgeous 'fallen leaves.'

��� teenage fanclub: start again / live in brazil
��� teenage fanclub: fallen leaves

SONG OF THE DAY (#246)

'star guitar,' by shinichi osawa f. au revoir simone

i picked up this album on whim because it looked cool, there was a cover of the chemical bros.' class 'star guitar,' and i'm a sucker for a electropop song. my faith was rewarded, as this is a great album!

shinichi osawa first made a name for himself in 1989 when he released his debut under his nom de rock, mondo grosso. since then he's help defined the current tokyo club sound. he's done production work for loads of bands, too. i don't know about you all, but i love finding these gems. i really do. it's so great to find something you never knew existed, especially when it rocks as hard as this does.

'star guitar' is a seminal chemical brothers track and shinichi osawa and au revoir simone do a bang up job covering it. in fact, i think i prefer this version to the original because the vocals are front in center instead of buried in the ambiance. there's nothing inherently wrong with burying the vocals, but it's such a strong melody that you wonder why the chem bros didn't spotlight the vocals more. but hey, that's the beauty of a cover. and when you can get vocals as pristine as the gals au revoir simone, all the better. you can check out shinichi osawa's website and myspace pages for more info. and you can check out au revoir simone's here and here.

→ shinichi osawa: star guitar [vocals by au revoir simone]
→ shinichi osawa: state of permission [vocals and co-production by freeform five]
→ the chemical brothers: star guitar [single version]

for sale: buffy dvds

this year for my birthday i bought myself the 'buffy the vampire slayer' box set. it wasn't something i was planning on buying, but when i saw a posting over @ whedonesque.com informing me that the buffy box set was the amazon deal of the day, i really couldn't pass it up. and truly, it was a great deal! i got all seven season plus a couple of fancy pants bonus discs for 79 clams--like 60% off the list price [it's actually too much math to wrap my head around, so i just guessed].

the only problem with purchasing the box set was that i already owned seasons 1 and 2. so, since i no longer have need for seasons 1 and 2, i'll sell them to anyone making a reasonable offer--and i'm very reasonable. in you are interested, name your price. it's just that simple and you don't have to listen to william shatner do my bidding! [way to insert a pun, matt]. you can post in the comments section or email me @ matt_lohrke@yahoo.com. really, no reasonable offer refused.

if you've never seen buffy the vampire slayer before, you're really missing out on some of the best television ever produced. i honestly can't believe i slagged off this show for as long as i did. i had absolutely no interest whatsoever in watching it. it just seemed so ridiculous: 'unto each generation a slayer is born, yeah, yeah, yeah...' no, thanks. little did i know, little did i know. fortunately, i saw my errors and repented accordingly. i don't know that i've ever seen a show with more genuine heart, warmth and humor as this one. this is one of the few shows that actually elicited tears from the concrete glands of mine. that's sayin' something right there. well, i actually cry pretty reguarly during movies and tv shows -- ok, it's more like 'tear up,' but you know what i mean. the only exception was 'savannah smiles' -- i cried like a baby at the end of that one. who can resist the sweet tale of a little girl touching the hearts of two grizzled and hardended con men? not i, not i. now's the time for you to repent, too, and get on the buffy bandwagon.

but in all seriousness, this is my 2nd most beloved television show of all time [nothing will ever top 'battlestar galactica.' ever]. i've yet to watch seasons 6 and 7 because i just don't want it to end. i know i eventually will, but it's nice knowing there's still more for me to discover and fall in love with.

so if you're not already amongst the legion of buffy disciples, or even if you are but you've never owned the dvds, here a chance to own the first two seasons of one of the most beloved series ever.

SONG OF THE DAY (#245)

'tentang city,' by white shoes and the couples company

all right, kids -- this is some of the most amazing stuff i've heard in a very long time. and i can't believe i've never heard of 'em before a month ago! and i can't believe they're from jakarta! bloomin' jakarta. it's all sorts of awesome, but you just don't expect to hear this kind of brilliant, sunny, bacharach-inspired pop coming from indonesia. my gosh, it's incredible.

aprilia apsari and yusmario farabi formed the band while the two were teaching at the art institute of cikini. the story goes that sparks flew, and like any self-respecting couple does, they formed a band. lucky, lucky, lucky for us. we get to reap the rewards of the union.

when stuff is as warm and beautiful as this, it's easy to overlook the prodigious talent behind it [i'd quite literally kill for songwriting chops like this]. debut albums simply aren't supposed to be this confident, skilled, and perfectly executed. 'white shoes & the couples company' may have been released in 2005, and it's only january 6, but shoot, it may have already won my favorite album the year award. i can't imagine anything topping it. it's just that good.

visit them here and here and say hello to your favorite new band. they're certainly mine. and check out the video for 'windu & defrina' -- it's 100% perfect.

→ white shoes & the couples company: tentang city
→ white shoes & the couples company: nothing to fear
→ white shoes & the couples company: windu & defrina / video

i heart comics

i admit it. i'm a huge comic book nerd. i've been meaning to do some posts about comics, but something inevitably comes up and i never get around to it. but it's kind of slow today, so here it goes...

when i was, oh, about 9-12, i was regular comic book buyer. those were the days when comics where 60 cents [and a pack of baseball cards was a dime]. i remember when they first jumped to 75 cents. how would i afford it? now that i think about it, i have no idea how i even afforded 60 cent comics. i was lucky that the comic shop in whittier, where i grew up, was about a ten-minute walk from my house. i don't remember what it was called, but i do remember it was about two shops down from the pussycat theatre--an x-rated theatre. i lie not. that would never happen today! i don't even know how it happened in 1983, but it did. talk about a scandal...

i wasn't really big into the superheroes back then. about the only superhero books i collected were amazing spider-man, web of spider-man, and x-men. my true loves were g.i. joe and robotech. those were some great comics! i remember once we were driving from whittier to utah and we stopped at a 7-11 in las vegas. i saw g.i. joe #26, a seminal issue in the g.i. joe canon and mythology [and can i just give huge props to larry hama for writing 155 awesome issues of g.i. joe? he did an amazing job, as anyone from my generation who read them will attest. no one can deny that snake eyes and storm shadow are the coolest. toys/action figures. EVER. am i right, tim, or am i right?] lucky for me, my parents bought it for me [to think a 60 cent comic could send a kid over the moon is inconceivable in this age of wii's, x-boxes, ipods and the like]. i devoured it. finally, we got a little bit of snake eye's back story! and what a story. vietnam vet! the hard master's assassination! zartan! i still have that issue. it's in terrible condition, but i still have it and i treasure it. some day i hope to have the entire 155-issue run. as of right now i'm about 1/2 way there. and by the way, the current g.i. joe comic title 'g.i. joe: america's elite' is one of the better books out there. it ain't your 12 year-old's g.i. joe. it's a gritty, modern-day story and even more relevant given the fact that cobra was always a terrorist organization. larry hama was more prescient than he probably would ever like to have been, but prescient he was.

after we moved to utah, i continued to collect for another year or two, but gradually my interest waned. you can blame depeche mode and the smiths for that. i still had two boxes of comic books. when i moved back to california in 97, they moved with me. when i moved back to utah 2001, they came with me. but i never read them.

well, earlier this year i heard joss whedon planned to launch buffy season #8 in comic book form. my interest was immediately piqued. it'd been a long time since i'd even looked a comic and about 20 years since i'd bought one. i had no idea where to begin. enter the internet. oh, the beauty of the internet. i found the forums over at comicbookresources.com and started asking questions. the DC faithful were very helpful. i got all sorts of repsonses and recommendations. the marvel folks? not so much. so i went with dc titles. i started reading detective comics, justice league, justice society, catwoman [a suprisingly and uniformly excellent comic!], and my favorite, the flash. i know spend about $35 a month on comics. totally worth it. i'm also reading the aforementioned g.i. joe: america's elite, buffy, angel, madame mirage [written by former 'lost' story editor and detective comics scribe, paul dini], and storm shadow -- yes, he has his own comic! and what's better it's written by the legend himself, larry hama. that's just too many kinds of awesome to even enumerate. but if i had to hazard a guess, i'd say about 1,412. at least.

i can't even tell you what a joy it's been to discover my passion for comics again. comics really have grown up a lot in the last twenty years. the writing is much more sophisticated. the stories are generally better. the coloring seems to be mostly done with computers. as far as i can tell the pencils and inks are still done by hand [thank heavens!]. i do admit that i miss the good old-fashioned paper. the new glossy paper is ok, but there's just something about those old comics and the way they feel in your hand.

part of the problem, however, of taking a twenty year haitus from comics is going back and catching up. unless you have a couple hundred thousand dollars to spend on back issues, it's impossible. well, not too long ago i was trolling through amazon.com [as i often do], and i came across 'the amazing spider-man: the complete collection.' 545 issues of spider-man, beginning with his first appearance in 'amazing fantasy #15,' then continuing with 'the amazing spider-man' #1 and running all the way through june of 2006 for a measley $33 clams. can i just tell you what a brilliant idea this is? every issue of spider-man scanned and digitized [there are also hulk, iron-man, captain american, avengers, fantastic four, ghost rider, and x-men collections on dvd-rom, too]. it's something like 17,000 pages, complete with adds, letters to the editors, everything. cover-to-cover. incredible! now if we can just get DC on board...

my dad ended up buying the spider-man collection for me for my birthday and it came in the mail earlier this week. again, it's so many kinds of cool that i can't even begin to count the ways. last night i read #1 and it was great, just great. stan lee [scripts, marvel founder] and steve ditko [pencils/art], as is generally common knowledge in the comics community, were true innovators of the comic book. sure, the stories are generally fluffy and slightly naive, but beneath it all are some good-old fashioned teen-angst stories. great stuff. what's curious about 'the amazing spider-man' #1 is that peter parker is referred to as peter palmer. i read that and i was like, 'huh? is that a misprint? but a few panels later stan lee again called him peter palmer, so i guess it wasn't a misprint afterall.

#1 is split up into two stories -- the funnier one being the second in which peter palmer [?] tries to join the fantastic four to earn some money, only to find out the f.f. is a 'non-profit organization' and what little money they do make is invested in science. a disappointed peter palmer shoots a couple of webs and is off to fight the chameleon. it's a slightly naive story, but it's so charming when taken in context--1963 was, after all, a very long time ago.

anyway, if you want to take a trip down nostalgia road and read #1, i've posted it below in pdf form. click the link and it will take to sendspace.com. click the link next to the moving red arrow. when it's completed downloading, a new window will appear. drag it from that window to your desktop to copy it over. you'll need adobe reader to view it properly. you can get that here if you don't already have it.

→ the amazing spider-man: #1

enjoy! i know i will.

SONG OF THE DAY (#244)

'you really got me goin',' by belaire

coming to you straight from the epicenter of all things hipster [that'd be austin, tx] is belaire. i don't know much about these kids--their website is, well, pretty much empty and The Man has myspace blocked here at work, so you're going to have to do your own homework on this one, kids.

i can tell you their debut album, 'exploding, impacting' was released last july. it's a pretty decent little album. sure, the songs do sound a bit like demos, but they're charming nonetheless. i've only heard about 1/2 the album, but i liked those songs well enough that i'm going to try and hunt down the full-length. you can visit the band's myspace page here.

→ belaire: you really got me goin'
→ belaire: waiting patiently

SONG OF THE DAY (#243)

'i didn't have any summer romance,' by simone white

i don't know the first thing about simone white [other than the fact she's a cute gal -- see evidence to your left], so i really can't say much about her. i read somewhere that she was born in hawaii. the album that this song comes from--'i am the man'--came out last june. it's very mellow, folky kind of stuff. so if you like that kind of thing, i'm sure you'll like her.

if 'i didn't have any summer romance' sounds familiar, it was originally recorded by carole king. i haven't heard the original, but i like this version so much that i plan to seek it out. it's a beautiful song.

if you want to find out some more about simone white, you can visit her official site here and her myspace page here.

→ simone white: i didn't have any summer romance
→ simone white: roses are not red

SONG OF THE DAY (#242)

'california girls,' by the magnetic fields

happy new year! i hope you all had a nice holiday. i spent it down in hurricane, ut [about 10 minutes north of st. george, which is like, an hour and forty-five minutes from las vegas--or so] in the land of my forefathers [my grandpa was born there]. i think i ate my weight in cheese balls, diet pepsi and m&m's. and you know, i wouldn't have it any other way.

so, i'm back to posting songs after a short hiatus. i promised i'd learn some new adjectives. i'm proud to report that i didn't. i'm sticking with what got me here, so....

the new magnetic fields album, 'distortion,' hits the digital download shelves next tuesday--that's january 8th if you're doing the math or you don't have a calendar handy. i'm very happy to report that it's a certifiable winner. after the somewhat disappointing 'i,' 'distortion' is a very welcome comeback indeed. 'california girls' sounds just like something off 'holiday,' which, in other words, means it's frakkin' awesome. claudia takes the vocals on this one. and as she usually does, she nails it. it's nice to hear her again. and it's great to hear another really great mag fields album. thanks, stephin!

→ the magnetic fields: california girls
→ the magnetic fields: too drunk to dream