recently-watched movies

Predators (2010) = 4/5

Finally, a nod to 80s-90s action films that doesn't come off as tongue-in-cheek. Predators is essentially about a bunch of badasses (with the exception of Topher Grace, who is such a douche bag in this film) who fight alien predators on a planet. Simple as that. Not too often do we get films that embellish on such a simple plot and puts its actors in action sequences, and does it well. It makes sense for Rodriguez to produce a film like this, a film that could have easily been made in the early 90s with a smaller budget and a granier camera filter. Laurence Fishburne is batshit crazy and, unfortunately, Danny Trejo's part is cut short in the beginning. But there's a memorable fight scene in the film between a tatt'd-up Yakuza member and a predator which sorta made a nod to early-Kurosawa cinema. Let's just say it's the closest you'll ever get to a beautifully-shot samurai sequence in a Predator film. Contextually, the scene works and succeeds; any other film and it would have looked retarded. The third act was kind of weak, though, because Topher Grace sucks. But the film is still impressive, comparitively, to other sci-fi action films, especially with this wave of vampire/action films. Doesn't achieve the brilliance and anxiety of a film like Aliens... but it's still pretty damn good and fun.

Splice (2010) = 4/5

If you get past the sorta cyberpunk attitude some of these characters have (like I don't really know any cool scientists...), then you'll see that this film is kind of ballsy. Takes lots of odd, left-field plot turns and puts its characters in some awkward and fucked up situations. While watching it, I thought of Cronenberg's The Fly, and sort of realized that Splice could've been way more awesome if Cronenberg directed it. Regardless, this film ends on a really uncomfortable and sour note, but it's a satisfying one, regardless. It's also one of the better science fiction films to come out in the past five years.

Alien 3 (1992) = 3 1/2 / 5

Kinda late to watching this one, but my radio station recently hosted an Aliens movie night and I was finally able to see Alien 3. I'd heard so many bad things about it and y'know I'd completely understand why any fan of the first two Alien films really disliked the third. It's a complete change of pace, tone, characters, etc. The only thing that really remains in this film is Sigourney Weaver and the Bishop character (he's really only in it for like 5 minutes?). But, the film ain't bad. Let's, for starters, state the fact that the pacing and structure of Alien 3 is completely different, and relies more on horror tropes than suspense tactics like the ones used in parts 1 and 2. This film has multiple plots running at once: Ripley's conflicts with the inmates, the tension between the inmates because of Ripley, and, of course, the third eye watching the alien itself. That's what's different-- the fact that in this film, we see what the alien is doing while the other characters settle their quarrels and solve problems. The first two films took on the point of view of its characters, thereby bulking up on the suspense and mystery of the creature by only seeing what the characters saw. We never got to see the queen hatch an egg until Ripley saw it towards the end of the second film. Also, none of these characters are really that likeable. The doctor and maybe the black inmate are probably the most redeemable. The Ripley character in this is just really fuckin' bitchy. She sleeps with the doctor and then keeps quiet about the possibility their might be an alien in this maximum security prison. That's pretty selfish of her. The film, otherwise, is pure Fincher. It's one of his earlier films, but you still get the greys and browns, with a very sleak and steam-punk aesthetic that gives the film a more grainy tone. The autopsy scene is just a classic Fincher scene, and you can really see how much liberty was given to him. That might've been the film's downfall, though. With the first two films, there was a specific mood and color. It was filled with blues, greys, blacks and whites. Scott was very specific with the look of the film, and Cameron continued that palette. But Fincher was given too much freedom with the whole Alien universe, changing characters' behaviors, setting up new colors and giving the alien a whole new motive. That caught me off guard as well. The aliens in the first films sought to get humans so they could harvest their bodies and lay eggs. The alien in this one, first off, came from a dog, so for some reason it came out more animalistic than other aliens. Second off, it just killed characters willy-nilly without even saving their bodies. Though, that gets explained towards the end of this film with a major detail that I wish would've been omitted from the script. The film is good, but I feel I would've been better off stopping at Aliens, just so that there's better closure.

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2010) = 4 1/2 / 5

A surreal crime thriller (bordering on stock police procedural) in the same vein of a film like Sexy Beast, Bad Lieutenant Port of Call New Orleans is an off-kilter Nicholas Cage character study. He fucking carries the weight of this film on his shoulders. Herzog knows what he's capable of and I think Cage should definitely choose more roles that require him to just be eccentric and absurd... since that's what he's good at. Cage finds a perfect balance between weird-as-fuck and batshit crazy. There's a scene between him, Xzibit and a loanshark with his cronies that pretty much sums up the entire film's tone... and it's one of the best scenes I've seen in a while. Any time you make a movie and put Nicholas Cage in the same shot as Xzibit and someone breakdancing deserves 4 stars. Because Val Kilmer shows up in this, I give it an extra half of a star.


Toy Story 3 (2010) = 5/5

The first Toy Story introduced a really original story. Part 2 sort of tried to build momentum on that same story and failed, at least for me. But part 3 is where this movie really triumphs. It's essentially the same plot structure: toys having adventures. Kind of interesting actually, the idea of toys and their role in society and in this film: play things that are usually played with by children are actually being played with by themselves. There's a really entertaining, but dichotomous, introduction in the film that has Andy playing with the toys... but it's set in his imagination, so we see a train track, explosions, car chases, Woody on horseback, etc. You see these toys being played with and in action in a fantasy setting, void of any reality. Then juxtapose that with how they react to reality, which is the same adventure, except they are bound by the rules of reality... except they're not... nobody is playing them, they're playing themselves. Haha, I'm getting ahead of myself and detracting from a simple critique and that it's a really entertaining, heartbreaking and oddly human film. One of the best Pixar films and definitely the best out of the franchise. There's a scene towards the end where it seems the film will end in the toys' demise, and the most heartbreaking humanely conditional moment occurs where all the toys hold hands and accept their impending death. That's not a toy thing. That's a human thing. It was deep shit. Pixar tends to input some really intense themes and subject matter in their films, more suited for PG-13 films than G films. But I guess that's their way, of both, expanding markets and demographics, while inputting some tough, but valuable, lessons for the younger audience.

singles going steady

Wavves - Post Acid



Maybe Nathan Williams was listening to some Blink 182 or Descendents when making his new record "King of the Beach". Post-Acid, released on Green Label Sound, is fucking poppy as fuck. But it's arguably the best song he's put out. It's a no-noise, no-bullshit song and it's the kind of songwriting you really couldn't appreciate when listening to his batshit no-fi songs from previous albums. A stripped-down Wavves song that cuts out all the tired and boring wall of sound... and shines light on the aspects of Wavves that were definitely hidden.

Wavves - Post Acid

Gold Panda - Back Home



I don't really know much about Gold Panda, besides them being responsible for a lot of remixes. But "Back Home" is pure un-adultered house music. Classic shit. On some dancefloor abandon-type shit. I just bought some of their singles and the Miyamae EP to get a full grasp of where this group is headed. They might be on the brink of something good and explode.

GOLD PANDA - Back Home from NO-FACE Films on Vimeo.

James Blake - CMYK

Some producers carry the dubstep label, and I never understand it. A song like CMYK isn't really dubstep. But it's considered dubstep. Why? It's more like an Aphex Twin song or something to come out of Warp. Either way, the label confusion should stray away from the fact that this song is balls-out funky and nostalgic. Not in the chillwave, lo-fi way. This song brought memories of childhood and my obsession with female R&B songstresses. I actually didn't even catch the Aaliyah sample, which James Blake did a good job of masking and altering into something completely ominous. My girlfriend was the one that caught it, and I couldn't wrap my head around it because it sounds nothing like the sample. Fuckin' awesome.

Music in bulk

I felt like writing an array of micro-music reviews during class, just so I can get some of my indie-rock frustrations out.

1. The new Sleigh Bells record totally fulfilled my expectations: it sucks. Could not stand the singles I had heard from the previous year and I definitely cannot stand the obnoxiousness that's in this record. Not sure what people see in it. Or should I say hearing? Supposedly people like it because it's loud? So? And M.I.A. endorses the hell out of it? She's going crazy anyway.

2. Watched Dinner with a Band yesterday on IFC with Yacht as the special guest. The chef cooked them a Mushroom Vegan Picatta dish and served them a nice little cocktail. I've seen Yacht live before and they're totally cool dudes. And they were even cooler/dorkier on the show. I love that band a lot.

3. The only song I really like on LCD Soundsystem's "This is Happening" is All I Want. Great song.

4. The new Flying Lotus album Cosmogramma is fuckin' CRAZY. I mean I expected it to be good, but I didn't expect it to be totally fucked up as well. Even more druggy and trippy. So good.

5. Not sure why I'm still holding on to a band like Minus the Bear, a band I put little stake in years ago because of top-shelf indie status. It had hints of that math rock aesthetic as well as an emo sensibility I was still too comfortable with. But man, their albums got progressively worse. Experimentation works for a lot of bands, but MtB just got so bad. They got more math and less emo, and that totally ruined them. Menos el Oso (as ridiculous as that album name is) was a pretty more-than-decent record. Also-- I hate those ridiculous song titles. Can't stand it. Their new album Omni is just pure trash. So lame and not even that disappointing because I've lost so much faith in this band so I don't really give a fuck.

6. I co-hosted a Fucked Up showcase with a fellow DJ Hector and man it was awesome. Made me love that band even more.

In the Aeroplane over the Sea

Look, I'm usually not late to these kinds of things. I'm usually pretty on-top of it and I'm kinda proud of it.

But fuck I'm so late to this: In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is a fucking great album. No duh.
Just picked it up and I've listened to it all week. Haven't felt this great about an indie-rock album since The Crane Wife (that's kinda funny, huh?) and just when I thought there weren't any bands I can put stake in, I find out they've been in hiatus for like almost 15 years. Fuck. For now, I guess I'll just bask in the glory of my favorite set of songs on the album: "Ghost" leading into the untitled track. Uh, I don't really think you can get much more glorious than that massive bagpipe-playing. And it's kind of a wildcard of an album. It's indie-rock, with a lot of emphasis on baroque folk... but then you have really loud, noisy pop songs as well? What a weird record! By weird I mean totally great of course!

With a record like this, you can totally see this as sort of a milestone for modern indie-rock. And come to think of it, I can't really imagine how people reacted to this record back in 1998. It just sounds so ahead of its time. I listen to it now and it can easily have come out last month and still be like the best thing anyone has ever heard.

the perks of being pessimistic

There are none. With the exception of being really funny.
Enough about me. More about music.

The New Pornographers - Crash Years
New Pornos were one of those indie curiosities that struck me at an age when I was ripe for molding. I was suddenly getting into stuff like Shins and Flaming Lips. Looking back on that time, I remember the excitement I had when discovering these fringe indie bands. I came across New Pornos after reading a Rolling Stones review for Twin Cinema that got a pretty decent group of positive adjectives and action verbs. I picked it up and loved it... but I never really wrapped my head around the term "power-pop". Catchy melody intertwined with power chords? Oddly enough, that sounds very sensible. Two albums later, the New Pornographers have Together, a step above the disappointing Challengers, but not too far off. Crash Years is bloody brilliant, though. Neko Case has a fuckin' great set of pipes and the New Pornos know how arrange A.C. Newman and Dan Bejar around them. She's underrated as a songstress, that's all I'm saying. Also, it's really hard to concoct a hook based on whistling alone, and I suppose it's harder to make it simultaneously catchy. But uh here ya go

Crystal Castles - Celestica (or for that matter, the entire Crystal Castles sophomore LP)
It's good. It's different from the other which is such a relief. I don't know if I can stand anymore atari/nintendo-inspired bleeps and bloops in a song, and expect that to carry the entire track. CC did good. They're tapping into more broader electronic sounds as well as staying within the realm of electro. I guess they're dabbling with that whole "haunted house" thing, and for that I'll bring up The Knife. I mean it's hard not to compare the two, or at least even bring up both names in the same sentence. "Celestica", though, is the standout track for me. Kinda makes them seem like nice people. Then "Doe Deer" wipes any hope of them channeling some Disco Romance type shit for an entire album. It's awesome.

Converge - Dark Horse
I had never heard of these guys before but by chance I stumbled upon their LP Axe to Fall and I'm not really sure why I hadn't heard about this band. Combining metal, hardcore, sludge, math-rock, hell, demons and the pit where that Dune-like worm monster chills in Return of the Jedi and that's pretty much Converge. Dark Horse is the first track off the album and my friend Alexis begged a pretty fair question: "how do you headbang to this shit?" In all honesty, I don't know. This music is so active that I don't really think standing and moving your head would be enough to give the band justice. I think running would probably do you better.

Big Boi - Fo Yo' Sorrows (feat. Too Short, George Clinton and SamChris)
I predict this Chico Dusty album will be a masterpiece. Big Boi's been on this album for a long while and from all the tracks I've heard so far (Shine Blockas, Royal Flush and Shutterbug), this album will probably do hip-hop some good. I mean the South has always bred some pretty interesting and fucked-up rappers, one of them being Outkast. This song is great, though, because it combines two of my favorite things in the world: getting head and smoking weed (sometimes not in that order, and sometimes simultaneously). The beat is on some kind of weird Apex Twin-type Warp records cadence. Love it. And the hook is just off-the-wall perfect. George Clinton is on it being George Clinton. The song is awesome. Period.

no tofu

So, I currently work for this online magazine called No Tofu. I feel like I'm walking steps closer to becoming some kind of legitimate, trusted music journalist. I mean No Tofu isn't Pitchfork, by any means... but it's definitely a medium to which I can learn about internet writing. And it's a step beyond my column from my school newspaper, The Beacon. Well, not a step beyond, but more professional. I mean I love writing my Exploding Head column... which I post clippings of on this blog every time I log on. It's just I can't fucking stand having to write like 800-word pieces every week. I changed my weekly rate into a bi-weekly; I'm busy, ya feel me?

With No Tofu, I am contributing and writing mp3 reviews any time I can. I'd say three to four reviews a week. All within 300 words.

Here are the reviews I've written thus far:

Twin Sister - All Around and Away We Go
LCD Soundsystem - Drunk Girls
Delorean - Stay Close
Love Is All - Bigger Bolder

The Twin Sister is kind of a gem.
LCD Soundsystem is a group that's tough to comprehend; Drunk Girls is just a terrible song, in my opinion. Reminiscent of frat-rock garbage.
The Delorean track is an absolute beauty to behold... especially since that's the kind of shit that band puts out anyway.
Love Is All's new song and album is just fun/twee as fuck.

Oh. A couple of albums I highly recommend/endorse:
-Pavement's Quarantine The Past:
Yeah I know it's a greatest hits record, but it's like the best greatest hits record I've ever heard. Sort of plays like a homemade mixtape. Songs aren't in chronological order, but flow well. Gold Soundz is also like one of my favorite songs of all time.

-Javelin - No Mas:
Arguably the best electronic album of the year so far. Sorry, Four Tet.

-Beach House - Devotion:
I totally realized this during the weekend: Teen Dream kinda sucks. I don't know what it is about the album, but it doesn't sit well with me. It doesn't sound like Beach House. Sounds more like a better Coldplay album... but that's not a great thing. Devotion is all types of minimal and beautiful. Without sacrificing any of the songwriting and a reduced volume count, Devotion is simply just way better than Teen Dream because of its "less-is-more" aesthetic.

-Titus Andronicus - The Monitor:
Haven't been too impressed with the amount of rock albums this year. Though, Titus is a band to get excited for. A concept album centered around the Civil War acting as an allegory for life, love and hatred of New Jersey. Is there a better song than A More Perfect Union?

hyph mngo

I know I said I wouldn't talk about personal stuff... but whatever. My brother is going through a divorce. Yikes. And he's got two kids. The woman he's divorcing is this caucasian, nice, but neurotic woman who I guess is a little too nuts for my brother to handle. He's kept their 2-year-long separation a secret until now. And then the news poured out about how he's getting divorced. I just spoke to him and he's totally just happy.

Understand I practically grew up with him and his relationship with this woman. So I, in the midst of my 20s, hear my brother talking about he's getting so much pussy and what-not. It's just kind of fucking bizarre. He's a different person. He used to be more reserved. Now he's kind of a douche. But I love him anyway. Just strange. He's getting numbers from strippers and shit. Fuck, dude.

I don't want to be like that. Please, people. Don't let me be like that. At fucking 40 years old.

I've been listening to this one Joy Orbison song on repeat for the past hour. Hyph Mngo is totally epic in its airy, effervescent glory.

can't get you outta my head

I posted up a Spring Break playlist more than a week ago, and Spring Break is, to say the least, pretty much over. What a week, man. I'd rather not go into full detail as to what happened during the break, since I've totally given up talking about any type of personal history or issues on this blog.
I did go to Orlando, though, and throughout my trip and after, I was heavily into a lot of pop shit. Good pop shit, though. I mean I feel it's pretty good.

1. Lady Gaga - Bad Romance/Telephone
Throughout the past couple of months, I've been growing a huge admiration for Lady Gaga. I'm not quite sure why. Well maybe I do; I can probably pinpoint a couple of reasons. A) On her Monster Ball Tour, her preface/intro performance had some kinda performance video art type shit with her in like this raggedy white dress and some chick vomiting next to her. Meanwhile, Zomby's Tears in the Rain played in the background. It was totally rad and gave her a shit-ton of credibility in my book... because vomiting and Zomby aren't usually two factors to pinpoint on a mainstream pop star. B) Her style exhibits a complete abandon of independent/alternative mentality. She is on the polar opposite side of the culture spectrum. She is pop. But... there is definitely a sense of parody and over-the-top play to her performance. And it's just that: a performance. She's probably a genius. Somehow? and C) Her songs are undoubtedly catchy.
Bad Romance is pretty annoying at first listen and Telephone has criminally dumb lyrics (Just a second; it's my favorite song they're gonna play/and I cannot text you with a drink in my hand, eh? ) Ugh. But the fact that each songs' play count keeps increasing by the hour gives Lady Gaga an advantage over shit like Local Natives, a band I cannot get into.

2. Nelly Furtado - Promiscuous Girl
This song is definitely a throwback and spawned onto the scene after a major sonic transformation for Nelly Furtado, a Canadian songstress mostly known for her intimate, folky relationship with nature and those ridiculous parachute/bell-bottoms jeans. But here she's all unchaste and shit. Man, see all these songs contain amazing hooks. And y'know, sometimes it's good to take a break from Wolf Eyes and Boredoms to listen to something that has a melody. And this song has a great hook/chorus. Timbaland is goofy as always, constantly face acting every time he's in a music video. Nelly Furtado is just sexy, man. And after having this song rehash into your life while drinking a Landshark at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville, you kind of feel ashamed to even sing-a-long. But you forgot that I don't care.

3. Drake - Over
God, finally Drake is putting something out that's not on a mixtape or on anyone else's album. I'm a really big fan of Drake and his So Far Gone mixtape was one of my favorites last year. This one is just epic, with string arrangements and a beat that shreds. Along with some ridiculous lines (I can't complain/Everything is kosher/two thumbs up/Ebert and Roeper; Haha whatever, dude) and swagger to beat, Drake is coming into his own. It's about time.

4. Caribou - Odessa
I'm not sure how this isn't Erlend Oye, because Dan Snaith does not sound like this on Andorra or Up In Flames or any of his other albums. But this song is just awesome. It''s got a great hook with diverse arrangements, and it gives a lot of complexity to standard electro-pop beats. Just a good song.

5. Slim Dunkin - 80's Baby (feat. D-Bo, Dae Dae and Waka Flocka Flame)
I just really like this song a lot. I'm not quite sure why I do. It's catchy and the chorus stays in your head. I was born in the 80s. You also find out that most of these guys are pretty much my age. And Waka Flocka Flame continues to be one of the silliest people on So Icey, which says a lot when he shares house with someone like OJ Da Juiceman and Gucci Mane-- considered like a godfather of trap rap with the amount of reverence he gets throughout. It's just fun and Spring Break should always be about fun.

So there you go. My Spring Break comprised not one alternative/garage/nowave/chillwave/noiserock/punk/hardcore song.

spring break mixtape

It seems like Spring Break really starts a week or two before the actual vacation commences. We're already mentally prepping our schedules and agendas for the lapse in fun, sun and trips around Florida. Though, it seems with every Spring Break, I always retrospectively make a mix of songs I was really into during that week-long vacation. Last year, I was knee-deep into punk and garage rock from the likes of Minor Threat and The Seeds, with a borderline obsession with Yo La Tengo's I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One. But It was always assembled after the fact.

This year I've been given the privilege of making a Spring Break mix and, yes, it might not be the songs I'll be blasting in my car or my home stereo, but it's a compilation of music that essentially sounds "springy" and should probably get the proper airplay that others might be more inclined to get.

1. Happy Birthday - Girls FM
This song is really the highlight of Happy Birthday's self-titled debut off of Sub Pop, set to come out March 16. It's a perfectly crafted tune with equal parts garage, grunge, 90s alternative and bubblegum pop. It's got sing-a-long potential and has a great chorus.

2. Smith Westerns - Dreams
This Chicago all-boy band can do wonders to the soul if played on a period of downers. Channeling early-Beatles songwriting and lo-fi garage panache, Smith Westerns provide a perfect wave of beachy pop for the break.

3. Wavves - So Bored
After various fistfights and nervous breakdowns, Nathan from Wavves kinda kept a low profile these past couple of months. He hooked up with Hella's Zach Hill to invert the already-loud Wavves sound to epic heights of monster no-fi with powerhouse percussion. So Bored is a pretty honest portrayal of slacker conduct, the kind of behavior one would show during Spring Break. It also sounds amazing when the sun is hitting your face from outside of your house.

4. Dum Dum Girls - Jail La La
I've written about them before and I still don't feel they've become redundant. Jail La La is just all kinds of fun.

5. Pavement - Shady Lane
Classic Indie/Alternative rock band actually just reunited to play a huge tour and fan favorite Shady Lane is just the ultimate definition of indie rock. I'm a bit biased because I first heard this song two years ago during spring break and just fell head over heels for Pavement.

6. Galaxie 500 - Snowstorm
You kind of need a slow jam if you're providing a soundtrack for someone's spring break. This song is filled with intense reverb and all types of nostalgia tones. Make sure to fall in love with someone to this song during your break.

7. Javelin - Lindsay Brohan
This group of producers pretty much cut and paste samples and drum beats to make some of the best electronic/hip-hop work around. Aside from the fact that the song title is awesome and silly, the song is just very chill and ringing of disco.

8. Toro Y Moi - Causers of This
Reminds me of what Zach Morris would be playing in his convertible during Spring Break.

9. Memory Tapes - Stop Talking
This whole album is actually just really infatuating. It's a mix of the "chill wave" genre, which really never gets old to me, and shoegaze elements from the likes of Cocteau Twins and Slowdive. This one is good to listen to because it fits right in with a lot of the stuff coming down for Winter Music Conference, which is soon.

You can download the mix here: http://www.mediafire.com/?zmynz0h2y1t

the colouring of pigeons

It's always really fascinating to watch a band mature into a more developed and refined faction of pop music bravado, while still experimenting with aesthetics. The Knife started out within the norm of European electro-pop, flaunting hints of bubblegum from their self-titled and then walking the plank between twitched vocals and lucid House music. Once Silent Shout was released, though, they initiated a brand of mystery and intrigue associated mostly with shamans and Dracula.

Also, to be honest, they just became really freakin' creepy. The music was dark and crude, but contained a high ratio of dance-floor abandon able to host many a haunted house party. They also sport really cool bird masks with matching black cloaks. By the way, I just found my halloween costume for 2010.

Karin Dreijer Andersson, one-half of the Knife, upped the anty on creepiness with her solo path as Fever Ray, dealing more with the visceral aspect of the music. Her videos are spectacles in itself and aren't used as marketing tools but more as color for the Knife universe. I mean if you think Lady Gaga pushes costume/makeup envelopes, watch the "Stranger Than Kindness" video and you'll see that Lady Gags is kiddie fodder in comparison. I mean no disrespect to Lady Gaga because I truly do believe she is some kind of ridiculous genius.

In collaboration with Berlin-based producer Mt. Sims and the equally-as-cryptic Planningtorock, The Knife made an opera called "Tomorrow in a Year". Cool. What's it about? Uh, it's based on Charles Darwin's On The Origin of Species. That, oddly, sounds like the most logical step for The Knife. And if we know anything about their style, it's that they're a bit odd.

One of the tracks released early was "The Colouring of Pigeons", an 11-minute epic about birds and stuff. Put a little less emphasis on birds and more on epic, and maybe the 11-minute part, because, man, this is epic. Think tribal percussion, film scores, and a good use of electronics to convey foggy and mythic atmosphere.

The song starts out with a really simple drum arrangement that builds on different drum tracks throughout the beginning. It's like no Knife song you've ever heard. A droney string pattern streams with hovering volumes, and then a woman sings in operatic voice. Yes, this song doesn't sound like the Knife, but it possesses the same eerie qualities and determinants of their previous songs.

The song is mostly percussion-based and, of course, follows a story that's omitted from listening to the song by itself. But judging the song from a singular perspective, it's arguably one of the Knife's most realized and complex songs. And the opera itself is a treat to listen to, mixing most of the Knife and Mt. Sims' career-defining sound in a cohesive, and sometimes in-cohesive, opus.

I'm not quite sure whether Charles Darwin had this kind of control with mood in his book, but it makes you wonder how the Knife views existence. Obviously, this is complete speculation on my part, but if we're trying to understand how the Knife operates in music and maybe in life, then I'd say we're hearing music made by individuals who view the man's beginnings as non-comprehensive and bleak.

Fucked Up - Couple Tracks

F***** Up has a pretty admirable career trajectory. Just by the looks of their music catalogue alone, they can account for about as much music as a band that's been around for 15 years. F***** Up did it in about 10. Not only have they unfolded the strict hardcore-punk chaos of their early beginnings to a more rich, complex array of traditional alternative rock and punk, they have also released a dizzying amount of music, including split-EPs and impossible-to-find singles, since their inception in the early 2000s.

Couple Tracks, their new singles compilation, is about as complete and fullfilling an album can get when referring to a band that pride themselves on the delights of vinyl collecting, liner-note analysis and rare mixtape assembly. It would be cheap to call it the band's complete anthology, since it's really just an assortment of B-sides and what-not. No, this album is directed more towards the people who love to categorize their music collection and participate in the hunt for rarities

On the song Couple Tracks, lead singer Damien "Pink Eyes" Abraham calls them "archivists." If you pre-ordered the vinyl months prior, you get a free companion 7-inch oddly called Couple Tracks. It's a single with a song called Heir Apparent on the B-side. So strange that with the release of a singles compilation they'd release a single of the same name (and cover art) right next to it. These guys are really fond of the obscurity, like the dignified vinyl collectors they are.

Since most of these songs are rehashes and edits of songs from years prior, you wouldn't expect anything new. But it's a treat to hear these songs play together in serialized form. Most of it works, and some of it is just F***** Up being too experimental.

"Generations", one of F***** Up's most politically-aware/satirical songs, is also one of their best. It starts with a sample from a group of Palestinians chanting, and then F***** Up build a three-chord melody out of it. What initiates is a pretty anthemic hardcore shout-out-loud song about... well I don't really think they know what it's about either.

"Carried Out to Sea", a song that appeared on their impressive, but flawed hardcore album Hidden World, also appears here as a demo. Both versions sound exactly alike, which shows how little this band needs for improvement. They build on ideas and sometimes the results come out exactly the way it was written on paper.

They mess around with genres, or so they proclaim. They go through a twee-pop phase, but in the F***** Up point-of-view, that just means there's a catchy melody. Pink Eyes still screams during "I Hate Summer" and "Anorak City", two of the most melodic songs I've ever heard by F***** Up, which still manages to sound right at home.

The Daytrotter Session tracks are really hit-or-miss. But that's really the point of Daytrotter, a studio in West Illinois where bands are invited to play their songs with old instruments. It works with bands like Dodos and Department of Eagles, but a band like F***** Up, who are all about multiple guitar tracks with heavy distortion and Pink Eye-growl, well it just doesn't seem right.

F***** Up released a similar singles compilation in 2004 called Epics in Minutes with the same idea. Let's put all of the singles and tapes we've sold out of, and put them in one CD for everyone to share. It was a decent compilation with some gems ("Police") and really old demos of an indecipherable Abraham ("Land of Nod").

Couple Tracks builds on that idea, but with more an emphasis on the collector of wax. You make the singles compilation for people who missed out on purchase. But they made this compilation as a collector's item as well. Releasing this compilation reveals a sense of religious respect for the archive.

There's a youtube video by City Sonic TV where cameras follow Pink Eyes, a mastodon of a man. He's in regular clothes, walking around his local record store talking about D.I.Y. punk. From the interview, you just see the excitement he gets from his surroundings. He refers to buying records as buying artifacts, and claims the record store "is the ritual, this is the church." I would go ahead and say Couple Tracks is their chapter to that bible. Chapter F***** Up, Verse A. Amen.

Airhorn vol. 1

NOTE: The following blog post, and the ones that proceed it, are articles I wrote for my school newspaper The Beacon under my music column Exploding Head.

So for the past month and a half, I've been trying to scratch dubstep's surface, trying to find as many artists and labels to play on the radio so that I could one day, in the near future, start a dubstep/grime show on Radiate FM. Dubstep, a genre assembled in the heart of London, mixes aspects of Jungle, Drum & Bass, Reggae/Dub and House music. Add a little bit of bass to establish the foundational rhythm and you've got dubstep.

I've been rummaging through dubstep blogs and labels' archives, trying to dig my way into this odd, intriguing London culture. Through my research, I came across Zomby's Where Were You in 92' and while listening to the record, I was reintroduced to the repetitive airhorn sound effect. Most of Zomby's songs contain the airhorn but Where Were You in '92, in particular, goes excess on the airhorn. On purpose, though, because the album acts as a retrospective Jungle throwback record.

But you know what I'm talking about, though. It's the same damn sound effect played in almost every dubstep, dancehall and reggaeton song. It's the same sound effect you've been wondering about since you first heard it on that Nina Sky or Sean Paul song. I've always wondered why this sound effect, of all sound effects is used so heavily in these songs. Why these songs? Why not indie-rock songs or electro?

here's the sample:


Is it a big, raucous behemoth of a sound that acts as some form of a global beacon for music that isn't from America? Most of the songs that supply the horn are by artists from South America, the Carribean or across the pond starting in Africa and and ending somewhere in Brighton. Is it simply just a cool sound used because it adds complexity to the song? I've heard a lot of dubstep songs use the horn sample excessively, possibly to safeguard the track from mediocrity. Well, I'm shoeing in on my former hypothesis.

I also found it singular and weird that I'd spend an entire article writing about a horn. I also found it weird that I'd spend more than one article traveling around the internet and making a couple of phone calls finding an answer to my question. So this article will definitely be continued into a series of articles branching different explanations for the sound, and possibly analyzing the genres in which the sound is employed.

I've been losing my mind, Pixies-style, trying to understand it and I feel as if I'd be providing good service to the concerned reader/music aficionado if I was to tell them what the horn was used for, and not just settle for the horn being used by producers for funsies sake. If you're as obsessive as I am about these little quirks, then hopefully you'd appreciate my trek to make sense out of this damn horn.

Just from simplistic web research and DJ forum-browsing, there are different handles for this dancehall SOS. Some DJs refer to it as the Dub Siren, though, this name is a little deceiving. The Dub Siren is actually an synth/effects pedal used for clubs and parties to modify different preset sounds. It's used mainly for effect and DJs adjust it through a pitch nob. Most of the sounds you'll hear are familiar since they have the same cultural resonance as the airhorn sample.

You can purchase one on eBay for cheap, as far as equipment goes. The seller, circuit-bender, included the product was good for raves, but apparently nobody told them that the "rave" died in the mid-90s. Though, with ever-evolving technology and the portability of autotune, a DJ can just download a Dub Siren on the iPhone app store and form a rave wherever they go. Basically, the physical Dub Siren effect/synth pedal is obsolete these days and can only serve the purpose of being an obscure novelty.

But the airhorn is definitely not called a Dub Siren. So I will consider that statement DEBUNKED!

Stay tuned for the next airhorn volume.