Chad VanGaalen really didn’t need to assume the Black Mold moniker for this album, very much a recording by him and for his listeners, right down to the song titles and cover illustrations. On his previous records he’d already brought beautiful electronic soundscapes to bear on his skill for melody. Here, the melodies are truncated, […]
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Arab Labor: The Complete First Season
Tucked into the box set or foreign section of your local video store you may find this wry 10-episode sitcom straight from Israel, about Amjad, an Arab journalist and his high-strung family. A familiarity with Israel based only on heated headlines will have no bearing on Arab Labor, whose characters seem only indirectly effected by […]
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Rick White’s noise
When Rick White steps onto a stage, the first thing you notice is his guitar. It’s a well-worn acoustic with a cosmic scene adorning its body—acrylic paint swirls from the sound hole, spreading brilliantly outward. As White and his guitar settle into a chair at the main tent before his suppertime set at this year’s […]
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Scott Walker: 30 Century Man
Bigger than Jesus and The Beatles: so were the hopes for 1960s crooner Scott Walker. The American-born enigmatic singer won over the Brit-pop scene with his boy band The Walkers and their big hit, a cover of “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine (Anymore).” Walker left the band to pursue his own bizarre, experimental brand of […]
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(500) Days of Summer falls, hard
Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Tom falls hard for Zooey Deschanel’s Summer, who does not return the sentiment, so naturally, the relationship doesn’t work out. (500) Days, though it has its moments of genuine insight, is more a story of heartbreak for heartbreak’s sake and not a deep emotional journey. The supporting cast all speak the same commiserative […]
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Apatow’s Funny People can’t see straight
In Funny People, Judd Apatow inserts real documentary footage of his daughter singing “Memory” in her school performance of Cats, and makes it a story point. That says everything about Funny People‘s inflated sense of importance. Apatow hasn’t a touch for big-screen comedy (not in pacing, composition, nor attitude). He prioritizes mass acceptance too highly […]
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Up front with Backburner
Wondering what to expect when the Backburner collective (Wordburglar, Jesse Dangerously, The Extremities and London-based group Toolshed, plus Windom Earle) hit the Seahorse stage on August 8? “The grown-up version of being in grade five and your teacher leaves the classroom. That’s right,” says Sean Jordan, AKA SJ the Wordburglar. “No teachers. Party time.” Call […]
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Outsourced
Don’t let the faux-hand-lettering fool you, Juno-naysayers: Outsourced isn’t the “quirky” indie drama its cover implies. Instead, it’s a formulaic fish-out-water tale. (If you’re going to pooh-pooh something, pooh-pooh fairly.) Here, our uncomfortable fish is Todd (Josh Hamilton), an American kitsch salesman sent to train a call-centre full of lower-cost labourers in India, after his […]
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Sister Suvi
Toronto-Montreal three-piece Sister Suvi is all over the map, but that’s a good thing. They share a member with Islands, whose influence is audible, but Sister Suvi has its own clear, folky, rhythmic sound. Now I Am Champion at times suggests the ukulele-fuelled lo-fi music of The Magnetic Fields and The Mountain Goats, at times […]
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Major Lazer
They say Major Lazer is a Jamaican commando who lost his arms in the secret zombie wars of ’84 and had them replaced by Lazers. It’s the perfect backyard barbecue album where Diplo and Switch and all the MCs would hang out. I would be the whitest person there and get all uncomfortable and drink […]
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There is such thing as A Perfect Getaway
A suspense movie for people who can’t stand suspense; a thriller for those who can’t bare thrills. However you say it, A Perfect Getaway gets along nicely by eschewing what some would consider to be fundamental to the suspense thriller genre: suspense and thrills. The movie—about a newlywed couple (Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich) in […]
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100 Dollars’ urban legend
100 Dollars is on its way to play a small festival in an upstate New York barn when I reach them. The barn is home to some ducks and geese, and I ask if they’ll enjoy the music. “We don’t write for birds,” singer Simone Schmidt says. “But pain runs through all walks of life, […]
