Gather Round The Mic » Lists

Tuning Winter Out: 8 Songs That Epitomize the Season

Evan Mather — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 22:59:09 +0000

(Part three of a four part series that took a year off. Read parts one and two.)

Winter has such a singular essence, which made creating this list both difficult and simple. Difficult in that there were fewer songs to choose from to fully exemplify the feeling of winter being expressed through music, but much easier in distinguishing whether a song did contain those elusive qualities.

I discovered, in my compiling and obsessive listening and re-listening to these songs, that all of the limited aspects of songs that express the quintessence of the season could be distilled simply to the opening line of one of the entries: Wilco’s “Via Chicago”.

I dreamed about killing you again last night, and it felt all right to me.

So put on a sweater and let the frigid air chill your eardrums as we perform an autopsy on winter and deconstruct that line.

“I dreamed…”

Last year, after the infamous “Snowmageddon” that brought half the nation to a stand-still, I stepped outside to dig through the nearly two feet of snow that had fallen, and looked out upon a surreal scene, a seeming alien dreamscape that was vaguely familiar as the world I’d once known, but undeniably foreign. It’s the same reaction I have after any snowfall, but it was magnified a bit this year. These are songs that capture that dreamlike and hallucinatory state one can find themselves lost in wandering through a cold and surreal winter landscape.

The Great Lake Swimmers – “Backstage With the Modern Dancers”

There are other songs on this list that more obviously evoke the essence of winter, but I love how the Great Lake Swimmers’ love song captures a moment so perfectly. When everything around you has fallen silent, the small and beautiful details of life before you crystallize and become more clear amidst the noise. The gentle sway and plinking of banjo and guitar lend a cold and removed feeling, but the whispered lyrics breathe a warmth onto the proceedings like hot air against a cold window.

Sigur Rós – “Gong”

There is no band quite like Sigur Rós, molding ambient soundscapes that are impossible not to get lost in, with only lead singer Jonsi’s vocals, sung in his alien Icelandic tongue, to guide you through to the other side. Honestly, any song of theirs would work on this list, always building slowly to a pounding intensity, sending the listener reeling into an intense fever dream that is even more alien and foreign than our snow-covered one.

The National – “Mistaken for Strangers”

Winter has always struck me as a season that can only be fully experienced in an urban setting. The city is already cold, hard and dead, with a skeleton of concrete, steal and glass, but always active, alive and bustling, glowing with lights at all hours. All of this oxymoronic juxtaposition serves to more fully underscore the feeling of disconnect and remove I feel with the winter. The driving rhythms of this song off of The National’s 2007 masterpiece-of-an-album Boxer (more on that album later) perfectly echo that feeling of people undeterred by the cold, moving about their lives. The essence of those lives, though, are as hollow and empty as the city they move through, a steady and relentless fall from grace. “You wouldn’t want an angel watching over/Surprise, surprise: they wouldn’t want to watch.”

“…about killing you again last night…”

Winter, at its core, is dying: trees shed their leaves, the temperature falls, and that which was once living and vibrant lays cold and still. But then, months into the gray and inert season, snow, pure and pristine, blankets the world. It’s like a ghost, the snow echoing the life that once made these bones dance, but still insubstantial and fleeting, haunting us with the vibrancy what once was. These are the songs that keep winter haunting me all year long.

Wilco – “Via Chicago”

I was divided as to where to place this song. It’s slow, trance-like rhythm and hypnotic, layered vocals, not to mention its illusory lyrics, seem to put it in the above “dream” category, but there are a few things that drove me to have it transition into the group of songs about death and dying. Lead singer Jeff Tweedy’s voice starts out simple and organic, but as layers of production fall down upon the song like tiers of snow, he becomes a ghost haunting a song that can barely keep its composure. It’s a song about a dream of death, but the song itself seems to be decomposing right before our ears, as instruments, and even the rhythm, drift in and out of the song, everything coming apart at the seems. Its a song whose core is rotting away, even as it lulls us into a sleep we’ll never wake from.

Antony & the Johnsons – “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”

Dylan’s classic is one of the more obvious songs about death, but his aesthetic is clearly more autumnal. This cover by Antony & the Johnsons, from the I Am There soundtrack, is much more fitting. Antony’s quivering tenor and the more subdued and sparse arrangement create a much more funereal atmosphere. Instead of coming from a deathbed, this version feels as if it’s sung at a graveside.

The Antlers – “Shiva”

Just the song’s title, layered in meanings, is elegiac enough to earn it a spot on this list. “Shiva” is the Hindu got of death and destruction. “Shiva” is also the Hebrew term for the seven days that one is to spend shut off from the world, in mourning after the death of a loved one. With its hospital imagery, ambient sounds and backing vocals like howling winds (or are they ghosts?) it is calming and accepting of the death at its center, a musical rendering of a soul escaping its bodily husk and shuffling off this mortal coil.

“…and it felt all right to me.”

The Antlers – “Bear”

The National – “Apartment Story”

Though these songs, on the surface, seem to be incredibly different, with the former song (I can’t stress enough how insanely great the 2009 album Hospice is) evoking images of a cancerous ursine abortion, and the latter being a more exact representation of snowed-in winter days. Still, both have a dancing away the darkness feeling, where we drink and play meaningless games and do whatever we can do distract us from the misery that infiltrates our lives, whether its disasters in our lives or that the world has temporarily decided to die around us. Psychologically, that’s the same purpose that all of the winter holidays serve. It’s no accident that almost every holiday about family togetherness takes place in the deadest of the seasons. Either way, we barricade the outside world and fill our time with trivialities, drinking a bit too much and smiling a bit too hard, though we still “know we’re fucked, and not getting unfucked soon.”

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In Defense of the Saxophone- 13 Songs Featuring Awesome Smooth Dirty Sax

Nate Gass — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 21:42:22 +0000

There’s been an ongoing debate within certain GRTM circles centered around the legitimacy of saxophone use in popular music. It has been said among some of my peers that the saxophone is an instrument to be despised- that it cannot help but destroy every song it touches with its absurdity. Granted, I will admit that the saxophone is a tricky instrument to utilize effectively. Its a dangerous choice and not one to be taken lightly, but I do believe it can be done well. I’ll even go so far as to say that a well executed saxophone solo can perfectly bring out whatever a song calls for in the moment, whether applied to smooth over a well laid groove or to add some abrasiveness to a loud tune.

What is it about the saxophone that is so divisive? We’ve all heard it thrown in unnecessarily (Sam Beam I’m looking your way) and if its recorded or mixed poorly it can be jarringly cheesy. But how could this instrument go from being one of the “coolest” instruments in music, at the center of the Beat Movement and an almost essential instrument in early rock and roll, to the symbol of all that is awful in soft rock and easy listening? Our debates have produced no answers to these lingering questions and these heated discussions have left both sides wondering if there can ever be a middle ground upon which the saxophone can ever toot freely again.

It would be convenient to blame it all on Kenny G or SNL’s opening credits and be done with it, but its probably not that simple. I don’t think it would do any good to even blame jazz. Anyone who’s heard any Charlie Parker or Coltrane knows better. So instead of playing the blame game I’ve decided to look for examples that prove the naysayers wrong. I decided to see if I could come up with a playlist of rock/pop songs featuring saxophone that any reasonable fan of rock music could confidently stand behind.

Thanks to my years of playing sax in high school, there remains a special place in my heart for this oft-maligned woodwind. It was my first instrument, and I’d like to think of this playlist as my thank you letter to the reed instrument that started it all. I thought it was going to be hard to compile the list, but once I got started I was very surprised to find that I actually had to cut songs to keep the playlist at a manageable length. There were obvious omissions, but I suppose that’s what the comments section is for.

So crank this one up and let these awesome sax performances honk their way into your ears and convince you that the saxophone can still kick ass.

PS: Obvious omission of Pink Floyd’s “Money” is noted. It would have surely made the cut, but for some reason I could not find it in Grooveshark.

It’s Business Time: 15 Songs to Help You Get Your Swerve On

Evan Mather — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 02:38:17 +0000

A special playlist in honor of Valentine’s Day.

Sex is at rock and roll’s core. More so than classical, blues, jazz, country, or any other genre, sexuality runs through rock’s veins and flows out of its pores, filling the air with it’s sweaty stench. Though it sometimes serves just to drown out your neighbor who’s watching “The Office” too loudly, or to keep others nearby from hearing your boisterous furniture or vocalizations, music ideally facilitates copulation by setting the mood. It creates an atmosphere and evokes the desired emotions, shutting out the rest of the world and fashioning a universe consisting of only two. Yes, a playlist created for the very purpose of encouraging romantic coupling implies premeditation, removing a key ingredient to romance, namely spontaneity. But let’s be honest: we often see sex coming. And when we do, we want it to be especially remarkable, so a properly made set of songs can go a long way towards accomplishing that.

There are a few rules to a good sexy-time playlist, most of them obvious, and none hard and fast. One key rule is to never include a song that will make either partner laugh. Laughter is always a reaction to discomfort and tension, an attempt to break it. The problem is that what you’ll be breaking is the sexual tension. You never want to break that tension – you simply want to release it. A slow rise in intensity, with some cycling, bringing the mood back a bit more to allow you time to breathe, is often beneficial. Remember, kids, this is a marathon, not a sprint. At least not tonight.

(This playlist is meant to be nothing more than a case study. Feel free to use it yourself, in whole or just piecemeal, but this is as much a discussion as to what songs facilitate erotic activities, and how to structure those songs as it is a simple list of songs.)

The first seven songs or so are slower and mellower, your foreplay, if you will, with a slower and slower progression of intensity. (You’ll see that pattern within the songs, too.) The first three are, though all accoustic love songs of some sort, pretty chaste. “Crazy Love” is a bit of an obvious choice, but it’s so good, and I try to change things up a bit by adding a live version performed with Bob Dylan that I’ve always loved.

Things start heating up a bit with Great Lake Swimmer’s less subtly erotic “Your Rocky Spine.” It’s basically everything “Your Body is a Wonderland” isn’t: poetic, evocative, genuine, and completely lacking in skeeviness. Wilco’s “Muzzle of Bees” has incredibly romantic and tender lyrics (“My head upon your knee/Half of it’s you, half is me”) but a building intensity in the music that will help to raise the temperature in the room. That level is kept up by Tegan and Sara’s “Wake Up Exhausted,” which you and your partner may do after your sleepless (in a good way) evening. True, the song is about a difficult relationship, but at this point, you two hopefully aren’t paying any attention to the lyrics. This is good, especially considering the next few songs.

“Sorry About That” is a bit of a nostalgic choice on my part. Many a clumsy fumbling was spent in a parked car to Alkaline Trio’s seminal (double entendres are fun!) album Goddamnit. About a foolish drunken hook up and the havoc it causes on these people’s relationship, it still has a longing and heated feeling to it that the heartbreak and tragedy is ignored in the throws of passion. Likewise, Liz Phair’s “Fuck and Run” is about a longing for a meaningful relationship in the midst of a series of one night stands. She aches for “a guy who makes love cuz he’s in it.” Hopefully, at this moment, you are, or at least are with, that (non-gender-specific) guy.

Count on a pairing of Canadian chanteuse Feist and the Australian disco masters the BeeGees to turn things up a notch. She mutes the cheesiness and cheap sordidness of the disco era inherent in “Inside and Out,” but not too much, keeping that sexy and alluring vibe. The intensity moves up a notch with Mumford & Sons “White Blank Page,” a song juxtaposing intimacy, both physical and intimate, between a couple and between man and the divine. Hopefully all of that thinky stuff goes over your heads, and the swelling passion from this song carries you on to the next track. “My Body is a Cage” by the (Grammy winning??!?!?!) Arcade Fire echoes the same build of intensity and release as the previous track, but this one drops all of the feelings crap and is bathed in the more primal and physical sorts of fervor, which hopefully, at this point, the two of you are as well.

And then comes the release. “Crimes” is a filthy song, not even overtly sexual, but is everything that this has been building to: animal urges and pure id. The Blood Brothers have found a way to record unadulturated debauchery; at this point, even the most romantic couples are no longer making love, but all out fucking, plain and simple, tangled in a morass of sweaty sheets. Emotions are a part of higher brain function that has become completely shut off. Continuing the release, but filling that previously mentioned hole (entendre!) is Sunny Day Real Estate (the quintessential ’90s emo band), with “Seven,” the lead track from their best album, Diary. The driving guitars and drums that hammer like a headboard against a wall, combined with the hot blooded vocals, spewing heartfelt poetry, meld that intense physical release with a sensitive heart in a perfect aural interpretation of physical love.

The two of you get a short breather, of sorts, with Radiohead’s slow burning “All I Need,” with the toned down tempo of the earlier songs, but more passionate vocals from Thom Yorke, as well as the scuzzier sound and escalation of mood that is more endemic of the later half of this mix. You’re going to need the break, too, since this last one is a doozy: a marathon, orgiastic 15 minute jam by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, “Babe, I’m on Fire.” Cave spews irrational babblings, only becoming anything near coherent when confessing the title, occasionally adding that he also loves you. Hopefully, when all is said and done, you will be in the same state, completely enraptured in the moment, only able to overcome your momentary insanity and confess your undying love to your partner in the midst of your bacchanalian soiree for two.

Happy Valentines Day, everybody.

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The Best Films of 2010

Gather Round The Mic — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 22:36:04 +0000

It’s a testament to what a strong year for film 2010 was that, when the GRTM team began to discuss our first annual list of last year’s best, the debate raged not so much over which movies should be on the list – that part was obvious – but over exactly which of the numerous exceptional films were better.

Alas, many would enter, but few would leave, and after some lengthy and spirited discussion, along with a talent and swimsuit portion of the competition (you should see Inception juggle!), we finalized our definitive list. Sadly, some movies, while championed by one or two contributors, failed to make the cut. From the historical drama The King’s Speech to James Franco’s stellar turn in 127 Hours, from the Korean oedipal mystery Mother to the Italian romance I Am Love, from the autopsy of a failing marriage in Blue Valentine to the Australian crime flick Animal Kingdom, these movies ran the gamut of genre and public recognition, but all helped define 2010 as a singular year for original cinema.

So enjoy the list, and join us as the fiery debate continues to rage in the comments section over such important issues as whether Due Date had superior mise-en-scene than Despicable Me, or whether Michael Bay’s Black Swan would have been exponentially deeper. And creepier.

(Note: Because we’re so helpful, we are linking to those movies currently available on Netflix via instant streaming, even though Netflix doesn’t give us any money. Now that you mention it, they probably should at this point. Also, click on the * after a film’s title to link to the original GRTM review.)

10. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World *

In many ways, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World had the deck stacked against it from the start. It was all too easy to file away as yet another ineffectual-geek action comedy, putting it in the same category as Kick-Ass and a score of other Michael Cera movies that seem to be facing diminishing returns. However, this was not the case. Adapting Scott Pilgrim from the graphic novel was the brain child of Edgar Wright (of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz) and no one else could have handled it the way he did. As with Wright’s other work, Scott Pilgrim doesn’t try to break genre stereotypes by mere self-referential irony, but instead treats geek culture with loving parody, and does so with a purpose that drives the storytelling. The central romance between Scott and Ramona moves the plot along, but is purposely emotionally stunted by Scott’s excessive idealization of her; she does not really have the opportunity to become a real person until everything is ended and Scott has reconciled himself to her past. Wright’s incredible comic timing and creative use of the film medium perfectly translates the graphic novel’s visualization of Scott’s juvenile perception and reinforce the distorted reality he lives in. Aside from being visually stunning, the movie features a rocking soundtrack by Beck and Nigel Godrich, and employs a talented ensemble, including a scene-stealing performance from Kieran Culkin. It is a niche comedy that will not (and should not be expected to) be suited to every one’s taste, yet what Scott Pilgrim does, it does extremely well, ending up as one of the best comedies of the year.

9. Un Prophete

Combining the journalistic eye of The Wire with the epic scope and pacing of The Godfather, Un Prophete is a fascinating story of an illiterate 19-year-old Arab thug who uses his 6-year prison term to rise through the criminal ranks of the Corsican mafia to establish his own crime kingdom by the time of his release. The politics of criminal and prison life are explored as thoroughly as the cultural and racial issues are. Muslims, Egyptians and Corsicans are all battling it out for their piece of the crumb, to paraphrase Rhymefest. French actor Niels Arestrup is spectacular as the aging Corsican crime lord César, turning in one of the best supporting performances of the year.

8. Shutter Island

If you only saw the trailer to Shutter Island, you might have thought it was going to be Scorsese’s attempt at a horror film. The trailer is full of creepy faces, lights unexpectedly failing, and “jumpy” suspense. Those going to the theater expecting to be scared were destined to be disappointed. Blame this disappointment on the marketing, not the movie. The movie is much more Psycho than Saw, a Psychological Thriller with an added emphasis on the Psychology. Leonardo DiCaprio gives one of his best performances as Edward “Teddy” Daniels, a U.S. Marshal sent to investigate the disappearance of a patient on Shutter Island, a prison island for the criminally insane. Throughout the investigation, Daniels is forced to simultaneously process his own haunted past – a past that includes the liberation of Dachau and the death of his wife (played exceptionally well by Michelle Williams). The twists and turns in the plot may or may not surprise you, but by the end of the film, this doesn’t really matter. The deeper questions the film raises about humanity, guilt, and reality will be the real twists that reward, even after multiple viewings.

7. Winter’s Bone *

The opening panoramas of Winter’s Bone immediately establish the eerie, suspenseful tone to this film about cultural mores and the steely kinship circles that keep a young girl and her family bound by them. The depressed landscape and its taciturn residents are immediately recognizable to anyone who’s been to the Missouri Ozarks. The film is anchored by seventeen year old Ree Dolly, whose search for her meth-cooking father is launched after she learns he’s posted the family home as his bail bond. Desperate to hold on to the family’s singular asset, Ree searches out clues to her father’s whereabouts, and in doing so, begins to push the limits of her community’s patience with her errant steps outside the hard boundaries of the standing social order. It’s hard to decide whether to root for Ree or shake the stubborn out of her, but you can only watch helplessly as her defiance earns swift punishment meted with equal force by family and foe, its quick deliverance a perverse incentive to move forward with the search. There was something admirable and compelling about Ree’s resolve, but you find yourself almost wanting her to give up, as it becomes clear that the loss of the family home, and even the disintegration of her family, might be the least of the imaginable evils that could befall her. And yet you can’t help but feel proud of Ree as she presses on, undeterred by watchful eye of cagey neighbors and the clear threats to her own safety. Ree Dolly wins your heart along with the respect of the kin that set out to undo her. Director Debra Granik doesn’t do her the disservice of making Ree’s character flat and flawless, but allows all of her characters depth and imperfection. She won’t allow the viewer to categorize Ree, her terrifying uncle Teardrop, or the clan elders into dichotomous camps of good and bad. Each of the main characters is surprising, and the depth of the writing, the unflinching cinematography, and the commanding performances by Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, and Dale Dickey make this epic drama of justice and family ties a must see.

6. Exit Through the Gift Shop *

What is art? And who decides? These aren’t the sorts of questions that usually make for a fascinating feature film, which is what makes Exit Through the Gift Shop such an unlikely success. We live in an age of answers, so it’s all the more astounding when we run up against something to which there is no answer. Is Exit documentary, mockumentary or something in-between? Is the surprisingly heartwarming Thierry (our main character) really a wannabe filmmaker who finds himself transformed into an overnight art world success known as Mr. Brainwash? Or is he an actor, plain and simple? Did infamous graffiti artist Banksy simply create a movie, or did he also create Mr. Brainwash — or maybe Banksy is Mr. Brainwash, with the affable Thierry just a ruse? There’s art here, to be sure, and looming ethical questions about property rights, celebrity, excess and more. But what could have been a colossal bore turns out to be the most interesting nonfiction film since Roger & Me — and this one’s a lot more fun to watch at a party. Never mind if you’ve never heard of Banksy, because Exit is best viewed through an ignorant lens: Go in without expectations, and find yourself drawn into a touching, entertaining and thought-provoking story told from a few different angles. You’ll be left with questions — about the commercialization of art, and about the fine line between truth and fiction. Just don’t expect any easy answers. To this day, no one has gotten Banksy to fess up — and in our present age, that’s a feat worth putting on film.

(Note: Aside from streaming via Netflix, Exit is also available to watch for free via Hulu for a limited time – until Feb. 4th to be exact – so catch it while you can.)

5. Toy Story 3 *

Toy Story 3 is the main event for which its predecessors were delightful prequels. Rarely does the closer of a trilogy tie things together so successfully. This is a visually stunning film about belonging, loyalty, friendship, abandonment, fear, tyranny, freedom, love, sacrifice and moving on. It seems like too much to take on in one film, let alone one geared toward kids, but it never seems strained. In his solo directorial debut, Lee Unkrich doesn’t fall into the trap of overly relying on the first two films. Rather, he masterfully (re)introduces the back story in the opening minutes and proceeds to take us on a brand new journey with these familiar and engaging characters. It is a testimony to its universal themes and great storytelling that regardless of your age or how many times you’ve seen Toy Story and Toy Story 2, you will have tears welling up in your eyes as Andy drives away. It is sad, but it couldn’t be any more perfect.

4. True Grit

The Coen Brothers are such accomplished filmmakers that, though they’d never dabbled in the genre before, they could hit a western off a horse’s ass from 50 yards, and with True Grit, they did just that. It is, at its most basic level, a story of revenge, as teenage girl Mattie Ross (incredible newcomer Hailee Steinfeld) seeks the help of U.S. Marshal “Rooster” Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) and an awkwardly comedic showboating Texas Ranger known only as LaBoeuf (Matt Damon) to catch the petty criminal (Josh Brolin) who murdered her father. What follows is a coon hunt of epic proportions, as the three scour through a beautifully captured landscape, strikingly filmed by go-to Coens cinematographer Roger Deakins, and bathed in the timeless sounds of composer Carter Burwell. With the memorable characters, the unique ear for language, and a tone that shifts from comic to brutal in a heartbeat, we’re left with an unmistakable Coen Brothers film in the form of a big, brooding western, crusty with True Grit.

3. The Social Network *

Though based upon recent events, The Social Network has a timeless feel to it. At its core, it’s a story about how ambition and greed can simultaneously push people to great successes and personal failures. The film was shaped by an ensemble that meshed together perfectly, smoothing over each others’ rough edges. Director David Fincher is as proficient a director as they come, but his vision of innovation amidst dark and drunken dorm rooms could have felt too heartless or humorless without Aaron Sorkin’s buoyant script. Conversely, while Sorkin’s script directly and engagingly imparts the nuts and bolts behind Facebook’s founding, it is Fincher’s eye that lends the cinematography and performances the dark stain of human weakness that imbues the film with its weighty themes. Anchoring the ensemble are brilliant turns by Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield, with an especially impressive dual-role from Armie Hammer. Icing the already dense cinematic cake is Trent Reznor’s haunting ambient score, hovering over the proceedings like stale cigarette smoke lingering in an empty room. The decision to have him score the film was definitely more than a stylistic choice, given that he’s revolutionized the way that music is produced and consumed as much as Zuckerberg has changed how we interact in this digital age. With its eternal themes and impeccable craftsmanship, The Social Network will resonate for generations to come, even when the technology at its center has long become obsolete.

2. Black Swan *

For being based on one of the most famous ballets of all time, and treading the well-worn territory of what-is-real/what-is-fantasy/descent-into-madness, Black Swan is a wholly original and one-of-a-kind film. Director Daren Aronofsky maintains a kinetic tension with claustrophobic sets and hand-held camera that explodes into all-out horror when the freaky shit that had previously occupied the dark corners of the frame is allowed to come front and center into the light. Even with the startling imagery and Portman’s powerful performance, Black Swan remains restrained where it needs to be. Its subtle use of limited perspective and jumps in continuity keep us far enough away from it that we can see and be horrified by Portman’s descent, yet be just off-balance enough that we too feel the force of her nightmare.

1. Inception *

One major point about this film that got resounding agreement among the contributors was that it reminded us of the multitude of reasons we go to the movies. It had thrilling spectacle, but the thrill was more than that–Inception pushed the limits of what an audience could accept as plausible or reasonable. It was transporting in the truest sense. Plenty of films have taken place in or dealt with dreams, but this was more of a synthesis of dreaming and reason. Christopher Nolan made us believe that this is what would–must–happen if we could interact with our dreams so readily. It’s a rare film that can combine an elaborate fantasy universe, visceral and exciting action, and a serious and powerful story about regret and loss, wrapped up in a dreadful and rumbling score that is itself part of the overall plot and structure. If nothing else, Nolan should get credit for demonstrating such a complex set of rules with such breathless excitement. This movie clocks in at just under two and a half hours, but it’s hard not to want to watch the entire thing all over again. Nolan again demonstrated that he is a master craftsman, and combined with the seething, dangerous, laser-focus performance that Leonardo DiCaprio always brings to his roles, it’s hard to imagine a future for film that doesn’t bear Inception’s fingerprints.

The Taste of Discovery: the Best New Things I Ate in 2010

Evan Mather — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 22:59:55 +0000

Anyone who knows me knows that I love food, almost as much as I love trying new things. This past year has been a gastronomical adventure for me, as I’m sure it has for many of you. Here, listed in (mostly) chronological order, are some of the best meals I shoveled down my gullet last year. (Also, sorry about the poor quality of many of these pictures – they were taken on the spot with an iPhone.)

Va Pensiero’s Beef Carpaccio – Evanston, IL

My wife and I spent a romantic weekend in Evanston for Valentines Day and our (dating) anniversary, which are just one day apart, and we ate at this nice Italian eatery, Va Pensiero. (Now at a new location and slightly renamed, dropping the “Va”.) We had a great meal, but what still stands out is our starter, beef carpaccio. For those of you unfamiliar, it’s beef tenderloin, served either raw or quite rare (as in, seared for 30 seconds) and sliced extremely thin, dressed with olive oil and lemon juice. It was exactly what an appetizer should be: light and not overbearing at all, but with a hint of heft and meatiness from the beef. I remember the rest of the meal as good, but the specifics begin to fade away. I still find myself daydreaming about that carpaccio every few weeks, though.

Miramar‘s Brunch Buffet – Highwood, IL

One of my favorite places to eat, this quaint French bistro has been my go-to fancy dinner place for years. They have the best creme brulé and onion soup I’ve eaten in a restaurant, and that includes all of the ones I sampled in Paris. Just this year, though, I discovered their Sunday brunch buffet, which at $20 a person is probably the best food deal you can find in the area. (My wife and I will often go in on an empty stomach in the late morning/early afternoon, pig out for an hour or two, and then not eat anything for the rest of the day. But we’re cheap like that.)

We first tried the brunch on Mother’s Day, where, for the same price that you’d pay any given Sunday the rest of the year, you get their standard brunch fare along with bonuses like fresh oysters and prime rib. And that Mother’s Day is when I tried my first oyster. It wasn’t that I’d been afraid to try them before, but they’re easily the priciest mollusk out there, and I never wanted to shell out the pennies necessary to try something I may not enjoy. Seizing this golden opportunity, I squirted some lemon on the slimy little devil and dumped it down my throat. Yes, the texture took a bit getting used to, but the fresh brininess completely won me over.

Another first for me that day was chilaquiles, which is incredibly simple and incredibly delicious, just leftover tortillas cut up and simmered in salsa, the ideal drunken snack or hangover cure. A few months later, I went again for a non-Mother’s Day brunch, and was shocked to discover that the chilaquiles were gone, and replaced with inferior flautas! What they had added to their line-up, though, were almost as good: cheese blintzes in raspberry sauce. The cheese filling was perfectly textured, not too thin, and with a slight zing from some added orange zest.

Main Street Smokehouse – Libertyville, IL

I’m gonna go a bit easy on this write up, since we’re also planning a Gather Round the Table write-up in the near-future, but this is where I discovered first-hand that barbecue could be incredible food, and not just something to eat in a backyard while drinking beer. Their sides vary from good (coleslaw) to life-changing (baked beans), and I can’t stay away from their brisket or pulled pork for more than a few weeks. It doesn’t help that it’s less than a mile from my home.

The Buckhorn Exchange - Denver, CO

This past summer, the wife-person and I went on a cross-country road trip, and that’s where much of this year’s gastronomical adventures occurred. Nothing too special was consumed in our first two stops – Iowa City, IA or Omaha, NE – but our second night on the road, we landed in Denver, CO and decided to hit up the city’s oldest restaurant, the Buckhorn Exchange. We went kind of crazy, each getting a combo meal with two types of meat, sharing a bit all around. We sampled game hen (like extra-flavorful chicken), a standard but tasty cut of beef, ostrich (a bit dry, but a strange cross between beef and poultry. Maybe a less fatty duck?), and my new favorite “steak”, elk tenderloin. I got it medium rare, and it was so rich, and the animal had clearly eaten so much iron from its natural diet, that it wasn’t red inside – it was purple.

The real notable dish from that visit, though, was our appetizer – Rocky Mountain oysters. For those of you not in the know, that’s not seafood, but bull testicles. In this case, sliced into chips and deep fried. And you know what? They’re kind of awesome. They have a subtle richness that you find in organ meat, like liver or sweetbreads, but not as overpowering. They came with two sauces – a horseradishy cocktail sauce and a sort of tartar sauce. It didn’t quite match our fancier meal, but if I ever open up a high-class bar or gastro-pub, this will definitely be on the meal. It’s honestly some of the best bar food I’ve ever had.

Scotch Egg – Cañon City, CO

Speaking of awesome bar food, we stopped the next day in Cañon City to grabb a snack. A local tavern served a Scotch Egg, something we’d heard about bet never sampled. For those of you who are also in the dark, it’s a hard-boiled egg, coated in a thin layer of sausage, and then deep fried. Ours was served cut in half with a small cup of maple syrup for dipping. Rich and fatty, spicy and meaty, with a hint of sweetness from the syrup, this would have gone great with a beer, except that it was 11 am. Yet another addition to my fantasy bar’s menu.

Mesa Grill – Las Vegas, NV

My wife, like much of female America, has a crush on Bobby Flay, celebrity chef and Food Network star. I always thought he was alright, but when we stopped in Las Vegas, we decided to splurge and have a nice expensive meal out at his restaurant Mesa Grill. And you know what? The food was pretty awesome. We started the meal with some overpriced-but-tasty margaritas (I went with the classic, Jenn had the prickly pear varietal.) Our appetizer, pictured above, was described as barbecue duck on a blue corn pancake. The pancake was more of a crepe, and a bit lighter in color than I expected, but it was no less delicious for that. I have to confess here, duck is probably my favorite meat. When eating poultry, I prefer dark meat, and duck is nothing BUT dark meat, all flavorful and fatty. Combined with a bold but slightly sweet barbecue sauce, this was the perfect start to our meal.

For an entré, I had the spice-rubbed pork tenderloin, which was perfectly cooked and came with several sauces that could be combined in endless permutations, so each bite tasted slightly different. Jenn went with the corn-meal dusted chile relleno, filled with manchego cheese and eggplant. The dessert was also incredible – a key lime tart with blueberries. Not a place I could afford to eat regularly, but I have to confess that Mr. Flay is definitely more than just a pretty face.

San Shi Go Sushi - Newport Beach, CA

I have been ruined on sushi for the rest of my life.

Our road trip ended in Orange County, CA, where we relaxed for a week at a resort with my in-laws. Our wedding anniversary fell on that week, so we took a sunset cruise just off Balboa Harbor (we passed through a pod of dolphins, which was kind of awesome). We decided to hit up San Shi Go, a well-regarded sushi bar a mere block from the boat dock. We followed the suggestions of online commenters and simply sat at the bar, introduced ourselves to our gregarious sushi chef, and said we wanted whatever was good and fresh that day – we put our complete faith in what he wanted to serve us. He did not disappoint, either in his welcoming and friendly demeanor, entertaining us and his other customers endlessly, or with the food, which was transcendental. From an amazing piece of red snapper nigiri (dusted with gray salt and yuzu zest) to a roll of oh torro (fatty tuna belly) to finishing off with sauteed squid with okra in a chili sauce, this is hands down the greatest meal I’ve ever eaten. I can never be happy with just a California roll ever again. I’m not sure I can even eat sushi in the midwest again.

German Cuisine at The Ronneburg Restaurant – Amana, IA

Over Columbus Day weekend, we took another trip out to central Iowa to visit some friends and family we have going to school out there. We took a day trip out to the Amana Colonies, a settlement set up by a small religious sect similar to the Amish. We dined on some German dishes, trying sauerbraten and spaetzel for the first time, some of my new favorite comfort food. I love the mix of spicy sweetness and vinegary tang that cut through the rich and fatty meat in the sauerbraten, and the spaetzel are just a magnificent cross between pasta and dumplings. Tasty food that really sticks to your ribs.

Roast Duck/Duck Soup

Like I said before, I love duck. I also love to cook. Amazingly, though, until about a month ago, I’d never cooked a duck. Weird, huh? Our families all had weird schedules this Christmas, and we were simply having dinner with my parents on Christmas Day, so I decided to roast us a duck. I used Alton Brown’s recipe, saving the oyster dressing for another time. The skin was perfectly crispy, the meat delightfully tender and seasoned.

The leftover duck, along with its trimmings (neck, back, etc.) I used to make a duck soup that we ate New Years Eve (accompanied, of course, by classic Marx Brothers movies). Along with some vegetables and noodles, I added a bit of Marsala wine, and the sweet complexity perfectly complimented the rich broth. It was a pretty darn delicious way to end the best food year I’ve ever had.

So what about you guys? What are some of the best new dishes you discovered this year, either out at a new restaurant or in the comfort of your own kitchens? How about food-related New Year’s resolutions – what have you always been meaning to try that you’re finally going to seek out this year?

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The Best Albums of 2010

Gather Round The Mic — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 19:19:55 +0000

This has been a great year for music, filled with extraordinary releases from established bands and new artists making huge splashes. And, since there’s nothing we love more than throwing together lists, we of course compiled a collection of our favorite albums of the past 12 months. Contributors started by creating a personal top ten list, which were then plugged into a complex series of algorithms, matrices and other fancy math shit. We followed that up with some fierce arguments and drinking contests to break ties, and ended up with the list you find below. These are purely subjective, being the albums that we personally listened to, admired and fell in love with this year, and are in no way definitive. We’re just starting the conversation. What albums found heavy rotation in your ear-holes this year?

10. Gorillaz – Plastic Beach

You can always rely on the Gorillaz for a bad-ass electronic pop album, finely produced to perfection. Plastic Beach does not disappoint, which is quite an achievement for Damon Albarn (group co-creator), given that this time around there was no Danger Mouse or Dan the Automator to help sculpt the sound. We might not have gotten a summer jam like “Feel Good, Inc.”, but what we did get was a more eclectic and loftier project heavier, on concept, narrative, and Bruce Willis. Snoop Dogg, Lou Reed, De La Soul, and Little Dragon (amongst others) drop in to lend their voices to a record that’s part Planet of the Apes, part Miami Vice, and completely cool as hell.

9. The New Pornographers – Together

The New Pornographers’ Together sort of came and went this year, greeted by the masses with little more than a shrug. Granted, it’s no great departure from previous releases, but with a back catalog that’s some of the best pop music of the past decade, the complaint seems fairly weak. And Together is the Pornographers at the top of their game, with vocals so damn strong (how can they not be, with Neko Case in the mix?) you sometimes don’t first notice how complex the music behind it actually is (with guest appearances by Annie Clark, aka St. Vincent, Zach Condon of Beirut, and even the Dap-Kings’ horn section), leaving layer after layer to be discovered within each track. What more could you ask for than incredibly accomplished musicians writing and performing intricately orchestrated pop songs? Which, by the way, are catchy as fuck. A summer album pure and simple, Together is the perfect soundtrack for long drives with open windows, crowded backyard barbecues or simply shaking your booty while vacuuming the house. It reminds you that there are few things more transcendent than a well crafted pop song with a killer hook.

8. Grinderman – Grinderman 2

Grinderman is the side project of several core members of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. You can credit the project, in part, with bringing back a lot of the rocking raw edge that the Bad Seeds have not seen as much of since the early 90s. As you would expect from anything associated with Cave, the album is full of dark and violent imagery matched with music that is every bit as ominous and heavy. Even when the album takes a turn for the quiet and beautiful (such as “Palaces of Montezuma,” which Cave wrote for his wife), the album retains its memento mori tones (“The spinal cord of JFK, wrapped in Marilyn Monroe’s negligee, I give to you”). Perhaps most worth noting is that Grinderman puts on one of the best live shows imaginable. Their engineering is flawless and extremely powerful, and their showmanship otherworldly, with Warren Ellis playing the ragged demoniac writhing and lashing out, and Cave the dark holy man delivering the audience through an unnamed pagan rite.

7. Titus Andronicus – The Monitor

One way to avoid the sophomore slump that plagues many bands is to create a second album that’s daringly ambitious, destined to be either an instant classic or a legendary disaster. Either way, it’s neither dull or forgettable. Luckily, Titus Andronicus’ The Monitor is the former; what, on paper, should have been a failure ends up a sprawling masterpiece. The New Jersey outfit has crafted what, on the surface, seems to be a concept album about the American Civil War, but is really a document of the internal struggles that wage within every person: the battle between between idealism and pragmatism, between impracticality and compromise, between history and future. It’s an epic undertaking (only two songs come in at under 5 minutes) that vary from raucous and messy basement-ready punk rock (“Titus Andronicus Forever”) to wise and wistful beer-stained piano ballads (“To Old Friends and New”), while still incorporating creative musical flourishes, such as bagpipes and spoken-word performances, sometimes all in the same song (the incredible 15-minute closer “The Battle of Hampton Roads”). They manage to maintain this cohesiveness of theme all without bogging the album down and making it seem like homework. Somehow, Andronicus has managed to balance art and entertainment and craft an album that’s rich and rewarding, while still being as much fun as any other release this year.

6. Joanna Newsom – Have One on Me

The overwhelming complaint against Have One on Me is that there are 18 songs playing for about two hours, and that’s for people who have already gotten past the traditional hurdles to appreciating her music. But without Newsom’s latest, you’re missing out on one of the best albums of 2010, and one of the best songwriters of this generation. And the truth is, if you can get past the sheer volume of material, it’s possibly her most accessible album. A synthesis of the styles of her previous two albums, it has the a lot more of the folksy brevity and structure of The Milk-Eyed Mender but the complexity of thought and instrumentation of Ys, while still maintaining the gorgeous verse of both. (“Do you know why my ankles are bound in gauze? / Sickly dressage, the princess of Kentucky,” “My heart made the sound of snow falling from leaves ”) There is simply no one else writing lyrics like she is. Have One on Me is powerful, dense, and mature, and all of the initial objections to this album end up as its greatest qualities.

5. Sufjan Stevens – The Age of Adz

It’s Sufjan’s first official full length album in five years, and compared to 2005′s Come On, Feel the Illinoise!, it sounds like quite a departure. But the electronic nature of Age of Adz should come as no surprise for those familiar with Movements III and IV of his orchestral EP BQE. Always one for concepts, Sufjan’s inspiration for Age of Adz comes from the artwork of tormented schizophrenic artist Royal Robertson, and that is exactly what the album sounds like. Its moody, ambitious, messy, jarring, and dense, but also beautiful. When all the chaos is stripped away, The Age of Adz remains a rubble of glorious composition.

4. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs

The BBC’s Mark Diver caused a minor stir when he compared The Suburbs to Radiohead’s OK Computer. This is clearly an over-reaching comparison, as it will take at least ten years to see if any album could have such a lasting impact. However, there is a grain of truth to this that is worth looking at. OK Computer, like Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon before it, is an album that encapsulated and even mythologized the anxiety of its time. Where Computer dealt with technology and the advertising machine as the source of this anxiety, The Suburbs is more retrospective in its focus, looking back on what it is like to grow up in the impermanence of a city that is “built to change,” lacking any fixed structure or lasting human relationships. The album casts the suburbs as a sort of post-apocalyptic cultural wasteland, filled with the ragged youth doomed who survive it. Musically it is nostalgic, emotionally charged and, in keeping with its subject matter, often slightly discordant and unsettling. Yet with all the unease and heavy themes, The Suburbs remains an incredibly entertaining and enjoyable album.

3. Mumford and Sons – Sigh No More

Mumford & Sons’ Sigh No More was released in Great Britain in 2009, but didn’t reach America until early 2010, so we made the collective decision to include it in this year’s list. Sometimes an album is great for its innovation, bringing the world something it hasn’t seen before. Other times an album is equally great for breathing new life into something familiar and making it clear just why it became such a touchstone in the first place. Sigh No More is woven out of very familiar materials, with songs about love, about faith and about personal transformation. All of these elements would seem to dance perilously close to the edge of cliche, but the genius of Mumford and Sons is that they never fall into that abyss. From their opening track, which is half assembled out of quotes from Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing, they prove that they can recombine the familiar into something fresh and vital. Through and through, Sigh No More has a driving energy and human passion that makes it one of the years most fun and re-playable albums.

2. Janelle Monae – The ArchAndroid

Where did Janelle Monae come from? The ArchAndroid sounds like another universe, and yet every piece of instrumentation sounds like it comes from somewhere familiar. No one else could even dare to t-t-t-tip on the tightrope like Monae. The songs are psychedelic, danceable, soulful, layered, theatrical, and, most important of all, catchy. On first listen, the project can sound off-putting (we weren’t even sure if we liked it at first), but it sticks with you and keeps on rewarding with every listen. When you hear an album that effortlessly weaves in and out of classic Michael Jackson, Days of Future Passed, Goth-Rock, Motown, and traditional church hymns, you realize this is a true album for the iTunes generation. ArchAndroid puts the most eclectic shuffles to shame and still sounds completely focused and whole.

1. The National – High Violet

In formulating a list for the end of the year, we tried a number of different ranking methods, but in all of them that didn’t involve alphabetizing, High Violet ended up on top. There was some discussion about the subjective pleasure of music versus the process of discovering an album’s qualities and discussing them, but for most of us there was no distinction here. It feels more like the National than any of their previous albums. The controlled urban uncertainty and melancholy, Matt Berninger’s heartbreaking baritone, and Joy Division’s drumming if Joy Division grew up and got a job–its all there, only more so. Their records seem to have been less about making catchy pop (though it often is) and more about a simultaneously sorrowful and passionate (and sometimes joyful) mood or space, as in “Afraid of Everyone.” It ends with the repeated phrase “you’re the voices swallowing my soul” which intensifies with each repetition on the record, and even more so live. It becomes less about the lyrical content or song structure and more about the raw feelings released after being built up throughout the rest of the song. In most of the songs, as well constructed as each is, what lingers when it comes to a close is a feeling, a mood, or a tone. There’s not a weak track here.

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Art Picks to Warm + Impress

Amanda Gross — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 23:50:47 +0000

Chicago has a pretty awesome visual art scene, with fresh + eruditious content often executed with inventive materials (including even cows’ blood, in the case of Jordan Eagles, below). Here are my randomly-ordered picks for exhibitions to see in late December, when you may want to go into Chicago and impress your friends and family with your smarty-pants art knowledge:

1. Caleb Weintraub’s The Leisure Class – Off the Wall and Out on a Limb @ Peter Miller Gallery (9/10/10 – 12/18/10) http://www.petermillergallery.com/current.php

2. Deb Sokolow @ Western Exhibitions (11/19/10 – 12/31/10) 119 N. Peoria http://www.westernexhibitions.com/current/index.html

3. Jordan Eagles + Dylan Vitone @ David Weinberg Gallery (11/5/10 – 12/30/10) 300 W. Superior St. http://davidweinberggallery.com/

4. Elizabeth Ernst’s Smoke + Mirrors @ Catherine Edelman Gallery (11/5/10 – 12/31/10) 300 W. Superior St. http://www.edelmangallery.com/currentshow.htm

5. Soft Serve: A Soft Sculpture Group Show @ Oh No! Doom Gallery (12/11/10 – 1/7/11) 1800 N. Milwaukee Ave. http://www.ohnodoom.com/gallery/events.html#december

6. Drawing (group show) @ Shane Campbell Gallery (11/20/10 – 1/15/11) 673 N. Milwaukee Ave. http://www.shanecampbellgallery.com/index.php?q=Exhibition&ID=107

7. Matthew Woodward @ Linda Warren Gallery (12/10/10 – 1/15/11) 1052 W. Fulton Market http://www.lindawarrengallery.com/artists/woodward/index.shtml

8. Forget Me Not @ The Center for Intuitive + Outsider Art (9/10/10 – 12/30/10) 756 N. Milwaukee Ave. http://www.art.org/exhibitions/current.htm

9. Touch and Go: Ray Yoshida and His Spheres of Influence @ The School of the Art Institute Sullivan Galleries (11/13/10 – 2/12/11) 33 S. State Street http://www.saic.edu/news/releases/index.html#current/SLC_31937 Also at this gallery is All the Best, where artist and writers present their output from an SAIC graduate workshop, Text Off the Page.

10. Door-busters (group show) @ 360See (11/26/10 – 1/1/11) 1924 N. Damen http://www.360seegallery.com/

11. After A Fashion: Classic, Humorous, Subversive @ Steven Daiter Gallery (11/5/10 – 12/30/10) 230 West Superior http://www.stephendaitergallery.com/dynamic/exhibit_display.asp?Exhibit=Current&EventID=2

12. Curtis Mann: Everything After (10/23/10 – 12/30/10) + A Knot For Adriadne (group show) (12/11/10 – 1/29/11) @ Kavi Gupta Gallery, 835 W. Washington http://kavigupta.com/

Also worth checking out:

Zhou B. Art Center http://www.zbcenter.org/index.html

Corbett vs. Dempsey @ Modern Art + Uncommon Objects http://www.corbettvsdempsey.com/exhibitions.html

Lloyd Dobler Gallery http://www.lloyddoblergallery.com/news.html

Las Manos Gallery http://www.lasmanosgallery.com/

Vadim Katznelson @ Roy Boyd Gallery http://www.corbettvsdempsey.com/exhibitions.html

Bubblegum and Razor Blades: Guilty Pleasures of a Musical Elitist

Colin Flanigan — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 04:31:53 +0000

In the summer before my first year of high school, everything changed for me musically. After years of listening to album after album of Christian ska, punk, and hardcore, I finally started to branch out. I discovered Brit-pop via internet radio stations; bands like Pulp, Muse, and Blur. I started to listen to more of The Beatles and less of The Insyders (if you don’t know, don’t bother, they didn’t stand the test of time anyway). After making a near daily habit of spending my afternoons searching MySpace and iTunes for new artists to enjoy, I arrived at home in the wide world of Indie-Rock with some albums that are still some all-time favorites of mine – namely Arcade Fire’s “Funeral”, The Fiery Furnaces “Blueberry Boat”, and Andrew Bird’s “Mysterious Production of Eggs”. And before too long, the slow, cold hand of pretension started to grasp the tender meat of my adolescent throat, and squeeze.

Throughout high-school I was known for having both good taste in music, and a crippling intolerance for any music that I didn’t deem “worthy” of my ears. I shamelessly belittled anyone who didn’t “understand” the music that I so dearly treasured, and in turn belittled their musical tastes. There was no “good country music”. Rap was only good when it was from the 80′s or early 90′s. And I would have rather died a tragic death than to have been caught listening to an artist even vaguely supported by the Disney corporation.

But now I’m a little bit older, a little bit wiser, and have a lot less of an innate need for superiority over others. I have been becoming less and less bashful about my musical “guilty pleasures”. And, while I still may not understand some aspects of the Michael Jackson phenomenon or the Brittany Spears mania of my early adolescence, I feel it necessary to give an apology to those many pop-fanatics that I so wrongly judged in the past. So, consider this list my apology: a short list confessing the many artists that I once enjoyed only in secret, and those that I have only recently added to my iPod knowing that my high school self is rolling in his metaphorical grave. These, my friends, are my guilty pop pleasures, complete with a painstakingly composed playlist at the end of the post. Enjoy.

*note: for optimum reading experience, start playlist now

10. Backstreet Boys
song of choice: The Call

Let’s start this thing off with a bang – a never-before revealed confession: when this boy-band, and the rest of the boy-bands that nearly completely dominated Radio Disney back in their heyday (O-Town, N Sync, 98 Degrees, even Plus One) first appeared on the scene, I was flabbergasted. A youngster still tightly gripping his DiscMan with a calculator watch on one wrists and a studded bracelet on the other, I had never heard of a “boy-band” before. It was not long before I learned that they were something to be loathed and feared, because they could turn the meekest of young girls into screaming fan-girls more impassioned than even the most passionate Star-Wars fan. But then, one fateful day in my seventh-grade year I heard a song about a dying cell-phone battery and a slanderous tryst while channel-surfing at a friend’s house. And I liked it. And I didn’t tell anyone I liked it until just now.

9. Abba/Madonna
song of choice: Gimme, Gimme, Gimme (A Man After Midnight)/Hung Up

I’ve been hiding this opinion in the deepest depths of my musical intelligence for a long, long time, and I’m only going to say this once: the synth riff on the song “Man After Midnight” is one of the catchiest, most incredibly awesome synth lines I’ve ever heard outside of a Daft Punk, Digitalism, or Justice song. Madonna’s use of it in her song “Hung Up” was absolutely brilliant. Kudos to her producer. Also, her song “Like A Prayer”, while it’s something my inner-conservative hopes any future children of mine never take a liking to, has long been a favorite of mine. Ok?

(deep breath)

That said, if I never see the film (or stage, but especially film) production of “Mamma Mia!” ever again it’ll be too soon. Way too soon.

Anyway, have a listen to the song on the playlist. You’ll know the synth lead I’m talking about when you hear it. It’s extraordinary.

8. Britney Spears
song of choice: Womanizer

Honestly, who didn’t like Britney back in the day? She enchanted even the most stoically un-bubblegum of us, and did so ferociously. When I think back to my early high school days, she was everywhere! Pepsi ads, superbowl halftime shows, splattered all over MTV and various films from the era – it was incredible. I had no chance; resistence was futile. I am a Britney fan. Her last few efforts have some really dark punch to them, almost entering into Michael Jackson territory (Smooth Criminal), and the remixes from her last album provided me with literal hours of entertainment searching them out on the internet. Heck, they still do.

7. Miley Cyrus/Justin Bieber
song(s) of choice: Party in the U.S.A./Somebody 2 Love

I know I really shouldn’t lump these two into the same category, but here’s the thing: I only really like one or two songs by either one. In that respect, I think it’s fair enough to do this. Their marketing brackets are similar, their approaches seem somewhat similar, and though their styles are pretty wildly different there’s a certain funk to these songs of theirs that is similar enough to excuse any potential oversight I might be making here. Plus, it’s Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber. C’mon. Way to go, production teams!

6. Lady Gaga
song of choice: Paparazzi

A friend of mine has been a huge Lady Gaga fan from her early days, and spent a good deal of time defending her honor as I looked the other way in vague disinterest. But as he sang the praises of Lady Gaga, I started to listen. Honestly, I still don’t totally appreciate her music – I find some of it grating and obnoxious. But there are those stand-out songs that I absolutely love, and I truly respect the reverence she has for classic trends and tropes in modern American pop.

5. N Sync
song(s) of choice: Justin Timberlake – Lovestoned/I Think She Knows, N-Sync – Girlfriend, JC Chasez – Blowin’ Me Up (With Her Love)

Justin Timberlake’s solo album Futuresex/Lovesounds was one of the first albums ever to land in my library consisting of pure radio pop. The year it came out, I was determined to dislike it. The song “Sexyback” drove me near literally up a wall every time it came on the radio (and to this day, though I’ve softened, I still think its beat is incredibly annoying). But I’ll be honest here. I love that album. And that song “Blowin Me Up (With Her Love)” that JC Chasez released in 2002 provided a giant hole in my anti-pop defences with its heavy beats and deep grooves. And when I think about it honestly, I always liked their songs. I remember “Girlfriend” being stuck in my head a lot back when the video was playing on MTV, and even their song “It’s Gonna Be Me” had a certain draw for me. Plus, JC Chasez released a song post N Sync entitled “All Day Long I Dream About Sex”. I mean, come on.

4. Beyonce’
song(s) of choice – Single Ladies, Halo

I never really had anything against Destiny’s Child. I definitely never had anything against her collaboration(s?) with Jay-Z. And when her most recent album came out, I must admit, the songs “Single Ladies” and “Halo” were instant hits with me. Plus, and I’mma let you finish in a minute, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of ALL TIME. ONE OF THE BEST VIDEOS OF ALL TIME!

3. Robyn
song(s) of choice: Dancing on my Own, and nearly everything off of “Body Talk” Pt’s 1 and 2

Swedish pop sweetheart Robyn has been popping up all over the place lately. From playing the VMA’s to being on pitchforkmedia.com’s front news page at least once a month, the girl has obviously become something of an indie-pop darling. The weird thing about that is that she doesn’t really sound that much like an indie-pop artist. She sounds a lot more like…well…a pop artist. Because that’s what she is, and she is doing great, great things for the world of pop production both for today, and for the future.

(Included in the playlist is a remix of her song “Dancing on my Own” that might be the second most incredibly hard-hitting remix of any song I’ve ever heard. Enjoy.)

2. Ace of Base
song of choice: All That She Wants, The Sign

I actually recently got a hold of Ace of Base’s “Greatest Hits” album and have been working my way through it. I think that’s enough description – let’s face it, we’ve all seen the sign.

1. Kylie Minogue
song(s) of choice: Can’t Get You Out of My Head, Come Into My World, Wow, Speakerphone

This one, much like the artist, goes way back. And I mean way, way back. From her first hit in 1988 which I heard on the show Full House when I was nothing more than a young sprout, my interest was piqued. But when she released her single “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” in 2001, I was instantly hooked. Of course, at the time I dared not tell a soul that I loved that song with all my heart, but now that I’m older and my juvenile fears of judgment have been almost entirely chipped away by the collegiate spirit of social apathy, I proudly proclaim myself a Kylie Minogue fan. The entirety of Fever, the album on which that single was featured, was great, and the video for the album’s other single “Come Into My World” directed by Michel Gondry was simple and phenomenal. And even though I completely overlooked her next two albums until only a few years ago due to my increasing hipster-fueled pretension in high school, both of them were phenomenal pop albums as well. The song “Wow”, a fan-freaking-tastic dance anthem was even remixed by MSTRKRFT, one of my favorite underground production teams (even though it stands firmly on its own). And as if a constant stream of fantastic pop hits wasn’t enough to bring you over to her side, she is also a cancer survivor, beating cancer before her album X was released. It’s unfortunate that I’m only now catching up on what she’s been up to, but there’s a lot to catch up on and I’m definitely enjoying it.

This post dedicated to Jordan Thomas.

Time to Change My Pants: 12 Movies that Scared the Living Shit Out of Me

Evan Mather — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 15:18:09 +0000

It’s that time of year: the chilling wind, the harvest moons, the crunch of leaves and the faint scent of death in the air. Halloween is just around the corner, which means it’s time to take off the masks we normally wear and put on ones slightly less grotesque, and its definitely time to watch movies that frighten us. Then we can attribute our unease and sense of impending doom to that stupid slasher flick we just watched, and not to the fact that our lives are crumbling around us and people are committing atrocities right next door. Here’s a personal list of films that have crept under my skin and kept me awake at night. (Note: these films aren’t in alphabetical order, or even chronological, but High Fidelity style, they are in autobiographical order, beginning with the movie I saw, and was forever scarred by, first.

Dumbo (1941)

I was a pretty sensitive kid. Many things made me cry, either from fright or sadness. Most I can look back at and chalk it up to my sensitive demeanor at the time, but Dumbo is one that I still find unsettling. When people think of frightening images from this film, they immediately focus on the Dance of the Pink Elephants scene, where Dumbo and his mouse friend get drunk and hallucinate a bevy of pink elephants. (Yeah, and this movie was for kids.) Being an immediate introduction not only to intoxicants but also any sort of surrealism, it is undeniably upsetting for any child. There are two scenes that always got to me more, though. First was the scene of Dumbo’s mother being whipped and chained up after protecting her child from taunting circus-goers. The implied violence, all left off screen, has still left emotional scars. The second scene is when Dumbo is turned into a clown and forced to perform in their circus show. Like the pink elephants, it was incredibly unreal and disconcerting, but without the excuse of it all being a dream. And more personally, it felt to me like sweet, innocent Dumbo had been kidnapped and turned to the dark side. (I’ve always had an issue with clowns – more on that later.)

The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Wicked witch? Scary. Giant, disembodied floating head? Terrifying. Flying blue monkeys? Gyah! But all of these are easily dismissed as fantastical elements of fiction – they may frighten me at the time, but I know I will never encounter a green-skinned mistress of satan or airborne primates in my daily life. But the trees that belligerently yell and throw apples at you? There are trees right out side! I see them every day! No one seems to remember that scene later on, but it’s the one that eventually drove me to be the anti-environmental, tree hating son of a bitch I am today.

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)

Everybody knows the scene, but no matter how many times I see the movie and know that it’s coming, this scene never fails to set me on edge. Gene Wilder, at his most menacing, recites a sinister rhyme (in sing-song, which is way worse than simply speaking it) as the passengers of his boat are taken through a tunnel filled with disturbing images projected on the walls. It’s as if someone hid Un Chien Andalou in the midst of a magical, candy filled wonderland.

Misery (1990)

By the end of the opening credits of Misery, the main character, an author, has been in a horrific car accident on a secluded, snow-filled Colorado road. His struggle for survival would be enough to fill a movie, but he is soon rescued by Annie (in an Oscar-winning, star-making performance by Kathy Bates), who, after nursing him back to health, turns out to be a former nurse, as well as his “number one fan.” Things take a turn for the worse, though, when he realizes that she could more accurately be described as his “bug-fuck psycho number one fan,” being so controlling as to keep him hostage until he changes the end of his latest novel, which she, to say the least, dislikes. The most shocking scene is when, as a punishment, she hobbles him, using simply a block of wood and a sledge hammer. It was at this moment that I, at the tender age of five or six (why the hell did my parents let me watch this movie?) realized that the greatest monsters are always a person who has lost their humanity.

Stephen King’s It (1990)

Watching this movie now, I’m amazed at how tame and cheap it seems, being a made-for-TV miniseries filled with TV stars of the 70s and 80s – Harry Anderson, John Ritter, Tim Reid, the dude that played John Boy on The Waltons (also, as young children, future 90s TV stars Seth Green and Jonathan Brandis – can you hear my wife swoon?). But beyond the poor production and cheesy effects, what continues to frighten me is the performance of Tim Curry as Pennywise, the Dancing Clown. Like I said earlier, I have a slight problem with clowns (most notably, a crippling fear). They’re vaguely human, but a bit off and slightly alien, with their painted faces and fake smiles. That joy and goofiness always hides a darkness underneath, whether it’s ennui or malaise, as in the “sad clown” cliche, or a simple insatiable appetite for the flesh of little children.

Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Misery taught me that the greatest monsters were humans, but Silence of the Lambs taught me that even more frightening were humans that were incredibly smart, charming and wanted to eat you.

The Shining (1980)

Alien seemed to solve the logical problems with haunted house movies (namely, “Get the fuck out of the house, idiots!”), but one year later, The Shining did a pretty good job solving that problem without resorting to a sci-fi, futuristic gimmick. The Overlook Hotel revealed its sinister past gradually, and only to a disturbed, telepathic boy, who wasn’t prone to share his visions with his parents, who were caretakers of the hotel during the off season. When shit did start hitting the fan, it was during a violent snow storm trapping everyone into the Colorado mountain resort, making it impossible to leave. Like the characters in the house, the frights in this movie creep up on you, like sitting in a pot of water that’s slowly being boiled. You don’t quite realize how frightened you are until you’re balls deep in the chaos, with crazy axe-wielding fathers chasing their children (Side note: why haven’t more films exploited the fear that young children have of their fathers?) and ghosts having crazy jazz-era soirees and furry-fetish hook ups down the hall.

On a personal note, I first saw this film at a friends house on Halloween evening when I was 13. His parents made us turn away during the nudity scene, which is not sexy at all. Well, maybe a little, but then it pulls the rug completely out from under you. Apparently, our pre-teen selves would be permanently scarred by a naked lady, but scenes of hacked-up little girls and murderous fathers were perfectly fine.

The Exorcist (1973)

I’m not a very religious man, and when I am, my religion of choice doesn’t hold much to that demon and witchcraft tomfoolery. But even I was completely shocked when the simple domestic bliss of a mother and daughter is torn apart by an evil demon possessing the young girl, forcing her to say and do awful, shocking things. Even I, with my jaded, cynical disposition, was fairly offended at her use of a religious artifact as a sex toy.

The Descent (2005)

You know what else is very scary? The dark. The only place I’ve ever encountered pure dark was underground. As a young man I ventured into a sewer as a dare, and later, as a slightly older young man, my family took a vacation to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, where the tour guides walked away with all of our lanterns. You literally could not see your hand right in front of your face. This movie exploits that fear perfectly, with the story of four adventuring women who decide to go spelunking in an unexplored cave and are trapped by a cave-in. In their search for a way out, they come across some crazy man-bat mutants who want to eat them. (Apparently, I’m very afraid of being eaten. Maybe I was a bunny in a past life. Or a cookie.) In violation of one of the greatest horror movie cliches, the pretty ladies don’t simply scream and run away, but fight back, and with a vengeance. It’s definitely one of the best horror movies of the past decade.

The Thing (1982)

John Carpenter’s sci-fi horror masterpiece takes the snowy isolation of The Shining and the grotesque, alien creature horror of Alien and ratchets them all up to 11. The story of several men at a research outpost in Antarctica who are infiltrated by a shape-shifting creature is a perfect example of build-and-release tension. It exploits our senses of paranoia, since the alien can look like anybody, as well as our fear of isolation, as there is literally nowhere to go but inside the base. Like The Shining, every frame of this film is soaked in a sense of unease, but things start going to hell much sooner in this film, and just keep getting worse. Not to mention the disgusting creature effects, which still manage to look realistic and frightening almost 30 years later.

Zodiac (2007)

This film isn’t really a horror movie, but there are moments that scare me now more than any I can think of, so much that, upon third and fourth viewings, I still have a hard time watching them. The film ends up being a psychological character study wrapped in a police procedural, but the first hour, where the Zodiac killer is active and making his name known, is incredibly unnerving. I’ve spoken of the haunting opening scene set to Donovan’s “Hurdy Gurdy Man” before, but there is a later one that stick with me even more, namely the Zodiac’s second attack, this time of a couple picnicking by a lake. The scene happens in pure daylight, and though it is very violent, contains little to no blood or gore, but the all-too-real screams of anguish are enough to do me in. It’s the simple matter-of-factness about the event, the way that it is staged, lit, and acted as realistically as if it were a conversation at a coffee shop, that completely freaks me out.

Well, there you have it: all the movies that ever really scared me, and some that still do. What are some of your favorites that I should add to my “watch-on-Halloween” list?

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Autumn in Audio: 9 Songs that Epitomize the Season

Evan Mather — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 23:31:03 +0000

(Part two of a four part series. Read part one here.)

I love fall. I love the crisp air, and breaking out my sweaters for the year, and how the bonfires that were so superfluous in summer now serve a distinct purpose. I love the tastes, from the braised stews to the crisp apples to the squash and root vegetables, all smelling of sage. I love that the whole world looks like a Bob Ross painting, and seems as if it’s waited to reveal its true beauty right before it dies for the winter. All of these feelings, in one way or another, are evoked by certain songs to me. Make some hot cocoa and have a listen:

In the 1970s, Bruce Springsteen established himself as one of America’s most poetic, honest and exuberant rock musicians. With his release of Nebraska in 1982, though, he offered something different: a collection of quiet, somber acoustic numbers that belied more of his folk musical heritage, evoking the likes of Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan. The only song that can be considered any sort of “hit” from that album, “Atlantic City” is about watching one’s past shrivel and die, and soldiering on in all futility anyways. The production on the song is amazing, lending Springsteen’s usually dynamic voice a sense of exhaustion and world-weariness, and his harmonica sounds like wind whipping through empty branches.

Sometimes, subtlety just won’t do, and one of the perfect autumn songs ends up being a song about autumn. (I mean, just look: it’s right there in the title!) It’s no secret that I love the Kinks, and this song is no exception. It’s a true ode to the season, cataloging all that makes it great: from a “poor rheumatic back” to “toasted, buttered currant buns,” it’s a true collection of autumns detritus, accrued like so many fallen leaves.

If I were to name my musical ideal, or if I were to be compared to one musician, it would be Neil Young. So versatile yet so distinctive, combining the warmth and homey-ness of folk and Americana with the grit and edge of rock ‘n roll, he hits my musical sweet spot perfectly, and this songs is, without a doubt, my favorite. His guitar work is capable and skilled without being showy or losing any musicality, with a warmth that comes through like the sun on a cool day. Combine that with a voice that, with such distinctive timber and a wisdom that belies its age (24 at the time), sounds like creaky boards on an old bridge, and lyrics tainted with lament and regret, and you have a perfect autumnal masterpiece.

Continuing with that theme of regret, The Weakerthans’ debut album’s eponymous track is a litany of those things we let pass us by, from failed opportunities to a fleeting sense of happiness that we try desperately to cling to. It’s a song filled with “lists of I meant-to-says” and resignations. Where Young adds a hint of anger to his song, The Weakerthans’ John K. Sampson simply lends a shrug.

Even if he weren’t a famous example of an artist who peaked early and left our mortal coil before he was ever full appreciated, Nick Drake’s music always embodied the autumnal, filled with quiet yearnings and desperation. The cascading guitar drifts aimlessly, never landing or coming to a conclusion. Combined with his lovely Scottish lilt, and the weeping cello, this is the perfect song to accompany any fall drive.

There’s a definite sense of exhaustion to the season, as if the summer has taken everything out of the world; its breathing has become more steady and its moving more deliberate. It’s the loss and impending death of the season, though, that reminds us of all that we’re going to lose when we get to the end of that “moonlight mile,” and because of that, we cling to it that much tighter. The verses to this song are so cold and unwelcoming, until the warmth of the chorus gives us anything to hold on to. We realize that everything, the winter and the summer, life and death, love and hate, are all fleeting, and we just need to find that one constant to accompany us on the turbulent journey. “I am just living to be dying by your side.”

No song has ever painted a picture or evoked a time and feeling for me as vividly as this song. Maybe it’s the sense of history from a purely human perspective – it’s the tale of the waning days of the Confederacy at the end of the American Civil War as remembered by a poor Tennessee farmer. Maybe it’s the tears on the edge of Robertson’s voice, or the fact that he sounds nostalgic about a bitter defeat. For whatever reason, it makes me mourn the loss of a cause I completely disagreed with, but is tied to the spirit and history of our country none the less. It’s a song that feels both timeless and inexorably steeped in history.

About five years ago, I was sitting in the bar of the old location of the Bottom Lounge on Sheffield in Chicago, waiting for the next band to come on. I was there specifically to see Lucero, but one of the openers was William Elliott Whitmore, who I’d never heard of. All of a sudden, from the next room, I hear the same sound that you’re hearing: a dingy but soulful voice soaked in whiskey along with a twanging banjo, often accompanied by a percussive stomp on the stage. In short, I hear something amazing. And then I go into the next room, and I see that this is who is making this music:

Not what I expected, to say the least. It ceases to amaze me how such a young man can evoke such a sense of age and wisdom, of being so beaten down and buried into the hard farm dirt of his home. Any song of his is eternally autumnal, but I had to go with the one that ends with the smoke-choking death rattle.

Apparently, 1969 is the most autumnal year. 33% of this list was released that year: The Band’s “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” and Neil Young’s “Everybody Knows This is Nowhere”, and this song, which was apparently written for everyone. Like most other songs on this list, it focuses on our shortcomings, on the things that, no matter how hard we try, we inevitably fail at. And like most other songs on this list, it is deeply tied to the land and history, tangled up like gnarled roots.

Autumn is a singular season, not only in that it is unique and universal in the feelings and images it evokes, but in that those feelings and images are so limited. When one mentions other seasons, different people will have disparate interpretations, depending on their experiences, but autumn is truly universal. Everyone knows what an autumn day feels like: that simultaneous rush of comfort and pleasure, with disaster and despair just nipping at your heals, warded off only by the sound of an acoustic guitar playing somewhere in the distance.

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