June 2011
8 posts
2 tags
R.E.M. - Collapse Into Now (2011)
When you’re a fan of a band that’s been around a while, a new album can be not so much something to be excited about, but something you hope isn’t an embarrassment, something that doesn’t annoy you to listen to a couple times before you go back to the band’s older work that you’ve already thoroughly absorbed. I don’t think any U2, Cure, Depeche Mode or...
2 tags
Next Food Network Star
So after tonight’s episode, we’re down to 10, which Guy Fieri considers the “finalists” in the previews of next week’s episode, even though we only started with 16. The cut of Justin B wasn’t that big a surprise to anyone but him; he was operating on his cooking alone, so when he turned in a forgettable seared tuna and couscous (yeah, that sounds like it should...
3 tags
Cars 2 question for my hillbilly followers
Larry the Cable Guy’s Mater character wasn’t even your favorite part of the first Cars, right? So why do you think he’s given a bigger role in Cars 2? And have I missed the trailer that has something funny in it, or is the movie really this bad?
2 tags
Woods - Sun and Shade (2011)
I don’t just listen to old fart vanity projects like Eddie Vedder’s Ukulele Songs. Lo-fi psych-folk is right in my wheelhouse, but I’m afraid these guys just aren’t there yet, or they don’t have the right producer. I could dig into specific songs, but nothing really stands out, and the biggest problem might be the tremulous, transvestic lead vocals. They sound like...
4 tags
Eddie Vedder - Ukulele Songs (2011)
When you’ve sold a lot of records and established a style and a level of credibility, you get to do half-assed projects like this. It’s like Van Morrison doing a bunch of loose records with some of his idols and old buddies like Lonnie Donegan and John Lee Hooker, or Paul McCartney experimenting with Muzak (a la Thrillington) or techno (the first Fireman album). Vedder’s of an...
3 tags
Killing Skies
Apparently some folks are going ape over the season finale of AMC’s The Killing. Guys—it was a very up-and-down season. The finale wasn’t that bad, but it sort of fell into a Twin Peaks trap of not wrapping up the murder of the young-girl-with-secrets and moving onto something else. I would have been satisfied if Darren “Orpheus” Richmond was really the killer, we...
4 tags
Thurston Moore - Demolished Thoughts (2011)
I’m not really sure what I was expecting from a Thurston (Sonic Youth) Moore solo album produced by Beck, but whatever it was, this does not meet expectations. Melancholy, minor key acoustic songs with strings? Check, but although there is some similarity to Nick Drake’s work, it ends up a rather samey, kinda boring effort like Beck’s own Sea Change album. “Orchard Street” is probably the...
3 tags
Scott Walker - 30 Century Man (2006)
It was great to see this documentary, as Scott Walker had been nagging at me as a cultural entity. I’d heard of him somewhere, probably mentioned by contemporary artists I already liked, and I think I’d heard his old, “The Old Man’s Back Again” on a compilation CD that came with a music magazine. I’d even downloaded his 2004 album, The Drift, but had found it...
