I meant to mention Seth Studer’s overview of Werner Herzog’s films some time ago, but completely forgot about it. Which means I’ll now mention his overview of Terrence Malick’s films as well. If these articles are any indication, Bandoppler 3.0 has a bright future ahead of it.
Elton John and Elijah Wood like Sufjan Stevens — they both voted for Stevens to receive the “New Pantheon Award”, which gives a trophy and $5,000 to the year’s most creative music outside the mainstream. Stevens beat out The Arcade Fire, Fiona Apple, M.I.A., Bloc Party, and Bright Eyes, to name a few (see all nominated artists). Via
Yet one more reason to love Safari… the latest builds now support the ability to customize text fields with CSS. Combine this with SVG support, and forms may never look the same ever again.
I didn’t even know Blackhouse was still in existence, but here’s the MySpace page to prove it. And I have to say, “Heart And Soul” is far funkier than anything I ever thought I’d hear from the group.
Mojave 3‘s new album, Puzzles Like You, will be released on June 19th. I’ll admit, I began losing interest in the band around the time of Excuses For Travellers, once the band’s dual Bob Dylan and Nick Drake fetishes—and the marked absence of Rachel Goswell’s vocals—became a bit much for me to bear. That being said, listening to this demo version of “Big Baby Star” makes me way to trade in the ol’ Saturn for a 1970s-era conversion van and head for the nearest highway exit.
After a decade of making splendid pop music, The Lassie Foundation are calling it quits, and not surprisingly, they’re doing so with plenty of style. Their final release will be a 2-disc set entitled Through And Through, which compiles their first two releases, The California EP and Pacifico, as well live and unreleased tracks, and a couple of new gems (some of which can be heard on the band’s MySpace page). Through And Through will be released in April.
On a somewhat related sidenote, it’s too bad the Northern Records website has decided to pull a Tooth & Nail and force you to click through multiple splash pages before you actually get to the site.
I’m one of those who often thumbs their nose at movie censors, who thinks that the MPAA often makes silly decisions that have little to do with actual morality and decency, and more to do with Hollywood politics and who can swing the biggest budget. Having said that, Grady Hendrix’ “Sympathy For The Censor” is an absolutely fascinating article on movie censorship around the world and the unnamed individuals who watch the unwatchable to preserve the sanity of the rest of us
. (Note: The article does contain descriptions of graphic movie scenes that have given censors pause.)
Namelessnumberheadman has posted several tracks from their upcoming album to their MySpace page.
Robert Jordan, author of “The Wheel Of Time” series — which I absolutely adored throughout high school, but gradually stopped reading for a variety of reasons (too long, too meandering, too convoluted) — has been diagnosed with amyloidosis, a very rare blood disease. Via
Back in 2004, Park Avenue Music released For Your Home Or Office, a very charming little EP of dreamy electronic pop. As I wrote in my review, one of the things that I really liked about Park Avenue Music’s, um, music, was their subtle approach, that they weren’t afraid to take the time to let their songs stretch out and breath.
I still remember the first time I listened to “Cutter”, the disc’s opening track. It was a rather dreary December evening, and I was getting into my car after work. As I waited for the car to warm up, the track’s soft, fluttering tones slowly began to drift over the speakers, along with Jeannette Faith’s whispery vocals. Suddenly, my drive home became something altogether more otherworldly, as if I’d somehow slipped into the sort of surreal, dreamspaces one finds in films such as Last Life In The Universe (indeed, Park Avenue Music sounds have more than a passing similarity to that film’s subdued electronica soundtrack).
As a result, Park Avenue Music has become one of those bands that I just file away in my mind, which means that suddenly, I’ll just drop everything and randomly Google the band’s name just to see if there’s anything new coming from their camp. Which happened today.
Sadly, there seems to be no definitive news of a new album or EP on the horizon. But if you drop by the band’s MySpace page, you’ll find several unreleased tracks/preliminary mixes/etc. And though they might be works in progress, songs like “Piet” and “Tufts” seem to point towards a slightly darker direction. The fluttering synths and light glitchiness are still present, but the group has also incorporated somber, torchsong piano melodies — whose clear tones provide an interesting counterpoint to the electronic elements and disembodied voices swirling around them.
On a related note, here’s an interview Somewhere Cold did with the band shortly after the release of For Your Home Or Office.
Opus is a website masquerading as a blog masquerading as a webzine. It’s where I (Jason Morehead) write about music, movies, art, web design, religion and whatever else interests me at the time (Read More).
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