Tesis (Alejandro Amenábar, 1996)

Why is death and violence so fascinating? Is it morally correct to show violence in movies? If so, is there a limit to what we should show? That's the subject of Ángela's examination paper. She is a young student at a film school in Madrid. Together with the student Chema (who is totally obsessed with violent movies) they find a snuff movie in which a young girl is tortured and killed. Soon they discover that the girl was a former student at their school...

Real Estate - It's Real

Real Estate - It's Real from 4eyes on Vimeo.

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Husky – Forever So (2011)

No they’re not the Siberian kind, in fact the band title has nothing to do with dogs and after doing a bit of reading on their offical website I was quick to find out that the lead singer, is in fact named Husky Gawenda. The four piece hailing from Melbourne have made a quiet, yet nonetheless impressive statement on their debut album, Forever So.
More folk than rock, Tidal Wave has a calm yet intriguing vibe, Gawenda’s voice is light and sweet, it perfectly suits the chilled tempo that comes from the song. “I gotta go, I gotta go quickly” he also sings a little quicker in the chorus on Fake Moustache, the bass ensures that the songs moves along nicely. History’s Door has the ability to become the bands anthem, its brilliant and easily accessible. “On the bank of a river beneath the trees, I stripped down naked and fell to my knees, I washed my sins away”. The folk brilliance continues on The Woods, where Gawenda’s voice reaches new heights. The Hunter may sound sweet, but there are darker undertones in the lyrics to be heard. “Black light, cold heart, your alive we can’t feel it”. The opening chords give Dark Sea a somber yet epic sound, it’s another highlight to be had.

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She & Him – A Very She & Him Christmas (2011)

Double Six are proud to announce the release of She & Him’s first-ever Christmas recording entitled A Very She & Him Christmas on 21^st November 2011.
A Very She & Him Christmas is a wonderful collection of festive tunes from two of music’s most impressive artists – Zooey Deschanel (She) & M. Ward (Him). Inspired by seminal seasonal albums by the likes of The Carpenters, Vince Guaraldi, The Beach Boys, Elvis Presley and more, She & Him have set out to create an intimate recording of Christmas classics that help bring new emotions out of old songs. Recorded in Los Angeles and NYC at various points in 2011, A Very She & Him Christmas sees the duo stepping back slightly from the layered, lush aesthetic of their critically acclaimed second album, Volume Two. On A Very She & Him Christmas, Deschanel and Ward let the songs speak for themselves, often recording them with just acoustic guitar and vocals. Consistent in everything are the elements that have made She & Him one of the most loved bands of the last few years – Deschanel’s soulful vocal delivery and Ward’s impressive guitar work, both sounding as timeless as ever.

Josh Bray – Whisky & Wool (2011)

Whisky & Wool, the debut album from Devon-born blues-folk singer-songwriter Josh Bray, opens with an instant flavour of and resemblance to Ray Lamontagne, with Bray’s strummed acoustic guitar and smooth, soothing vocals flanked by sensitive strings and gentle backing vocals. Even through the harmonica solo of opening track, ‘The River Song’, there’s this immediate impression of Whisky & Wool as an album of inoffensive backing music; a feeling which continues through ‘Rise’, a heartfelt and sensitive song of hope, though with an undeniably catchy chorus. Moving onto ‘Bigger Than The Both Of Us’, picked acoustic guitar echoes over a bed of smooth, mellow, low cello and gentle suggestions of sensitive upper strings which are perfectly complimentary to Bray’s intelligently penned lyrics. Similarly, in ‘This Is Life’, Bray, pitch-perfect, blends blues-y talk-singing and a sensitive, smooth, sung vocal, again over lush string parts, and delicate, high-pitched mandolin glistens on top of strummed guitar chords. In something of a brief gear change, however, ‘Hard Living’ is slightly more upbeat with a more pronounced guitar riff that, at least to start with, resembles Jack Johnson’s ‘Taylor’. The track holds an American bluesy folk vibe, especially when the more determined drums enter and push Josh Bray’s previously smooth and sensitive vocal tone into something more forceful.

The Hardy Boys – British Melancholy (2011)

The album includes 11 songs, and I love that they have included the best songs from their 2010 EP “Under the piccadilly clock” as well. Especially “And the trains ran on time” is a masterpiece. Another huge favourite is the closing track “Rest my beautiful muse”. Couldn’t be better!
The Hardy Boys were formed in Greenock, Scotland in 1985, and have been away since 1990. In 2010, they reformed with singer Kat King as a new member. They released the wonderful 3 track EP “Under the Piccadilly clock”, and now, a year later, they’re here again with “British Melancholy”, – fresher than ever!

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings – Soul Time! (2011)

Album number five from Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings, the in-house band of Daptone Records, brings together a couple of singles from the early part of the last decade, a bonus track from an earlier album, previously live-only favourites and a Shuggie Otis cover in their authentically executed James Brownesque style. As the cover shouts out, it is indeed Soul Time!

Kurt Vile – So Outta Reach EP (2011)

Philadelphia based singer songwriter Kurt Vile has been having a breakthrough year in 2011, recently coming off a long tour promoting his second proper full length for Matador Records, Smoke Ring For My Halo.
The musician, who has garnered comparisons to Bruce Springsteen due to his falsetto and fondness for acoustic driven rock songs, has announced a new EP, So Outta Reach.
The EP contains 5 original songs initially recorded during the sessions for Smoke Ring For My Halo but not used for the album, which were reworked with producer John Agnello this summer. So Outta Reach — which comes out November 8th — will also appear as part of a deluxe edition of the LP, out the same day.

Daughter – The Wild Youth EP (2011)

London-based singer-songwriter Elena Tonra has put a lot of effort into expanding and diversifying her sound recently, which has seen her music as Daughter evolve from more traditional acoustic leanings to a fuller, more elecronic-tinged aesthetic.
Growing up in a quiet part of north London in the 90’s, Daughter (Elena Tonra) spent her days listening to her parent’s vinyl collections and older brother’s rock CDs. She later discovered the beauty of acoustic and folk inspired music and started to create stories and poems which formed the skeletons of her songs.

Paths of Glory (Stanley Kubrick, 1957)

Adapting Humphrey Cobb's novel to the screen, director Stanley Kubrick and his collaborators Calder Willingham and Jim Thompson set out to make a devastating anti-war statement, and they succeeded above and beyond the call of duty. In the third year of World War I, the erudite but morally bankrupt French general Broulard (Adolphe Menjou) orders his troops to seize the heavily fortified "Ant Hill" from the Germans. General Mireau (George MacReady) knows that this action will be suicidal, but he will sacrfice his men to enhance his own reputation. Against his better judgment, Colonel Dax (Kirk Douglas) leads the charge, and the results are appalling. When, after witnessing the slaughter of their comrades, a handful of the French troops refuse to leave the trenches, Mireau very nearly orders the artillery to fire on his own men. 

The War on Drugs "Come To The City"

The War on Drugs "Come To The City" from Secretly Jag on Vimeo.

Snowmine – Laminate Pet Animal (2011)

... W A j L d b i s T A s t o ...

I was first exposed to Snowmine when I caught them on a bill with Dirty Gold at Union Hall in Brooklyn in early April. I wrote about Dirty Gold’s set at the time, but decided to hold off on mentioning Snowmine because their debut LP, Laminate Pet Animal, is damn good and deserves its own post.
My first impression of Snowmine was colored by the eternity it took them to set up at Union Hall. I remember thinking that even the likes of Johnny Greenwood would probably consider their intricately constructed effect boards excessive. I waited, expecting at any moment for some kind of strange ephemeral elevator music to start pumping out of the speakers. Instead, I was blown away for the following 45 minutes with sublime electronic hooks, tight percussion, bright guitars, and vocals reminiscent of bands such as Yeasayer and Local Natives. It was a wonderfully pleasant surprise.

Cowboy Junkies – Sing in My Meadow (The Nomad Series, Vol.3) (2011)

With the October, 18, 2011 release of Sing In My Meadow, Cowboy Junkies continue an ambitious schedule of four releases over an 18 month period, collectively titled “The Nomad Series.” The latest collection of songs, follows the critically acclaimed Renmin Park (2010) and Demons (2011). Renmin Park was inspired by Timmins’ two-month stay in China and was called “their most ambitious yet” by The Boston Herald. Demons is a collection of songs by the late Vic Chesnutt which NPR called “…a loving tribute.”

Death Songs – Death Songs (2011)

This is most easily described as an album of acoustic pop, with the mood elevated by a framework of handclaps and a crisply strummed guitar. Despite the name, this is far from morose music, having more in common with early Dodos stuff than the kind of dingy laments you can get when a nice young man picks up an acoustic guitar. In fact it isn’t until the gorgeous second half of rather schizophrenic closerRemain in Love Straight to the End that things get a bit more downbeat, but by that time you’re ready for it.
I think that what I’ve always enjoyed about both the Shaky Hands and now this music probably comes from the combination of the way Delffs sings and the way he plays the guitar: I am never really all that sure if the predominant feeling it conjures is wistful or upbeat. Sometimes the pace of the music and the vocal delivery contradict one another a little, creating a pleasantly shifting palette of emotions.
It’s not the most insistent or attention grabbing release, this, but I am really enjoying it. And I am really glad that Delffs is back, too.

Tom Waits – Bad As Me (2011)

Uf,Uf,Uf,Uffffffff....Mnogo dobro!!!! Vec posle prvog slusanja kao da je oduvek bila tu, ta predivna muzika cika Waitsa koja hrani i miluje dusu!!!!
When Tom Waits unleashed the first single along with details from his forthcoming follow-up to Real Gone last month, he scolded those sharing “Bad As Me,” the LP’s title track, before the big reveal. Now that the cat’s out of the bag, Waits is ready to spread an official stream of the cut for all to enjoy, guilt-free. After a couple dozen spins of this funky, Marc Ribot-featuring cut over the past 10 days, I can safely say we have another undeniable Waits classic on our hands — picking up where tunes like “Hoist That Rag,” “Make It Rain,” and “Shake It,” from the aforementioned 2004 set, left off with unhinged beauty and strangely poetic lyrics, such as: “I’m the car in the weeds / If you cut me, I’ll bleed.”

Cave of Forgotten Dreams (Werner Herzog, 2011)

In 1994, a group of scientists discovered a cave in Southern France perfectly preserved for over 20,000 years and containing the earliest known human paintings. Knowing the cultural significance that the Chauvet Cave holds, the French government immediately cut-off all access to it, save a few archaeologists and paleontologists. But documentary filmmaker, Werner Herzog, has been given limited access, and now we get to go inside examining beautiful artwork created by our ancient ancestors around 32,000 years ago. He asks questions to various historians and scientists about what these humans would have been like and trying to build a bridge from the past to the present.

Mothershipmagiccc u petak u Feedback-u !!!

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Passersby ignore Chinese girl crushed by traffic

Watch how a poor Chinese child gets run over and then run over again by two separate vehicles and people do nothing to help her. 

 za devojcicu iz kine, koju niko nije primetio kako lezi pregazena na ulici..

Himalayan Bear – Hard Times (2011)

On "Hard Times," the third album from Victoria, BC’s Himalayan Bear aka Ryan Beattie exhibits an indisputable level of ingenuity, a fetish for reverb and a voice that is as delicate as it is potent. Beattie may be best known as the front man of Chet or the guitarist of Frog Eyes, but he started making records in his early teens and has amassed a large catalog over the nearly two decades since. It’s his solo project Himalayan Bear which best shows his inimitable talent and remarkable voice, and "Hard Times" is his finest effort to date. "Hard Times" will be released on August 2nd, 2011 by Absolutely Kosher Records.

The Bats – Free All the Monsters (2011)

The story of The Bats begins in 1982 in Christchurch, New Zealand, when guitarist, vocalist and chief songwriter Robert Scott (The Clean) teamed up with bassist Paul Kean (Toy Love), guitarist Kaye Woodward and drummer Malcolm Grant (The Builders). Over the next 30 years, the beloved indie-pop four-piece produced a wealth of classic releases – three EPs, seven albums and a pair of retrospective collections – garnering gushing reviews from every corner of the music press and amassing fans and friends around the world. The latest chapter of The Bats’ story was recorded at Seacliff, a former asylum in the grand Victorian style just outside Dunedin, and masterfully produced by Dale Cotton (HDU, The Clean, Dimmer).

Peter Murphy – The Secret Bees of Ninth (2011)

Peter Murphy next week will release The Secret Bees of Ninth, a six-track digital EP that features three previously unreleased songs. The set, which will be available Tuesday viaiTunes and Amazon.com, features current single “Seesaw Sway,” off his current albumNinth; the “full version” of Ninth track “Secret Silk Society” (about 50 seconds longer than the album take); “Gaslit,” which appeared as a bonus track on the Japanese release of Ninth; and previously unreleased tracks “Rose Hunter,” “Good Works” and “Secret.”

Code Unknown: Incomplete Tales of Several Journeys (Michael Haneke, 2000)

Jean, a farm lad, wants to escape his silent father; he runs to Paris to his older brother, Georges, who's away covering the war in Kosovo. Angry, he throws a bag of half-eaten pastry into a beggar's lap. Amadou, a young Franco-African, berates him. The police arrive, arrest Amadou and deport the beggar. Georges's girlfriend Anne is upset; it colors her relationship with Georges when he returns from the war. Separate lives intersect for the one moment, around the pastry bag, and all are altered. We follow each as repercussions of the incident play out. Deaf children bookend the film pantomiming words, feelings, and situations: what they are expressing?

Sea Pinks – Dead Seas (2011)

...Volim Belfast...Volim Belfast...Volim Belfast...


Autumn Song from Sea Pinks on Vimeo.

Confirmed: The Stone Roses Reform

The legendary four-piece - Ian, John, Mani and Reni - have announced two massive shows at Manchester's Heaton Park on Friday June 29 and Saturday June 30, 2012. The dates will form part of an extensive world tour.The band have already been into a rehearsal studio to start work on the set-list for the one of the most eagerly anticipated reunifications ever.

Death in Venice (1971) , Luchino Visconti

Based on a novel by Thomas Mann, Death in Venice stars Dirk Bogarde as a German composer who is terrified that he has lost all vestiges of humanity. While visiting Venice, Bogarde falls in love with a beautiful young boy (Bjorn Andresen). The relationship is ruined by Bogarde's obsession with the boy's youth and physical perfection; the composer realizes that the child represents an ideal that he can never match. The character played by Dirk Bogarde is evidently intended to be Gustav Mahler, whose haunting music is featured on the film's soundtrack.

John Wesley Harding – The Sound of His Own Voice (2011)

Harding’s new album ‘The Sound of His Own Voice’ is full of folk-pop classics; a lot of rocking out (it is co-produced by Scott McCaughey), some funny and playful stuff (‘Uncle Dad’), lots of stuff about memories, missed opportunities (‘I Should Have Stopped’ ), passion and drama in ’The Way We Weren’t’ (“Maybe one day I’ll try to forget/One day, but maybe not quite yet/Amnesia’s the only thing I fear/Please don’t forget me next year at your premiere..”). 

The Dimes – The King Can Drink The Harbour Dry (2011)

The Dimes’ latest album, The King Can Drink the Harbour Dry, fashions early Boston, Massachusetts’ history into a rich and entertaining twelve song work. Singer-songwriter Johnny Clay’s glowing voice directs a sound of classic sixties melodies, frequent harmonies, and engaging lyric. “Save Me, Clara” shows it all off with banjo haunts and a lifting hook, while the acoustic backdrop of the more contemplative “Walden and the Willow Tree,” brings talk of wicker chairs and Poe to the fold with a warming harmonica. There is more here, though discovery is best on your own.

Andrew Adkins – Troublesome, My Love (2011)

Andrew Adkins is better known for being half of the songwriter/singer duo in psychedelic roots-rock band, Mellow Down Easy. Their last album, “Cosmisutra” has been praised by critics from Rolling Stone, No Depression, Outlaw Magazine as “one of the most original styles in the last decade” and a “breath of fresh air” for the band’s unique sound and mixture of influences. In 2006, Music City publication, The Nashville Scene voted Adkins one of “The Top 3 Local Songwriters in Nashville” (along side Will Hoge and Marcus Hummon). In 2010 after a 75 date U.S. tour with Mellow Down Easy, Andrew decided to take time and head into the studio to begin work on a solo debut Troublesome, My Love. The songs gracing this album touch on troubled love, social empathy, and heartbreaking poetic prose to the quest for everlasting hope. There is no easy and simple way to categorize such cuts as “We Knew It All Along” and “Two Of A Reckless Kind.” There’s soul, blues, rock, roots, and even a tinge of country on those particular cuts, and all at the same time, which makes for an enjoyable musical journey. He also experiements with a folk-ish sound on “If You Can’t Swim (You’ll Probably Drown),” and an out and out love song like “Your Lucky Day.” While it may be tough somewhat to market an artist like Adkins, those that he is able to touch are going to the richer for it. In fact, it doesn’t matter what you call it, as long as you call it good – because it is!

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Mišel Uelbek - Karta i teritorija

Mišel Uelbek
Karta i teritorija (Plato,2011)

Karta i teritorija jeste prostorna i društvena slika savremene Francuske koju Uelbek opisuje u svakom svom romanu – kao dekadentno društvo koje samo što nije ispustilo dušu. On ovde otvara vrata sveta umetnosti. Ono što se tu zatiče jeste odsustvo prave inspiracije, ishinjena dekonstrukcija, pervertirana dekadencija, menadžment umetnosti koji guši samu umetnost, tržište umetnina koje je eufemizam za pranje novca. Karta i teritorija je njegov nov roman koji je ovenačan najprestižnijom francuskom i svetskom književnom nagradom Gonkur 2010. godine.   

Connan Mockasin 'Forever Dolphin Love'

Connan Mockasin - Acoustique (Scopitone 2011) by sourdoreille

Twin Falls – Slow Numb (2011)

...Za sve ljubitelje snega i benda Delgados...

Twin Falls – AKA Luke Stidson and his slowly revolving door of musical accomplices – is not yet a familiar name. But his first album Slow/Numb is a genuinely impressive statement of intent: in an understated and beautifully produced debut, there are signs that suggest his under-the-radar profile won’t stay that way for long.

Of Monsters and Men – My Head is an Animal (2011)

Of Monsters and Men are the newly crowned winners of Músiktilraunir (a nation wide battle of the bands competition). The band’s name is apt and fitting to their lyrics, which mostly comprise stories of all kinds of monsters, both fictional and human.
In march of 2010, Of Monsters and Men was complete. They played their first gig with new member Arnar Rósenkranz who joined his friend Ragnar (Mussi), electric guitarplayer Brynjar and singer and guitarist Nanna Bryndís.
The band’s sound is pure and almost entirely acoustic, except for one electric guitar, drums are usually absent adding to the softer side along with vocal harmonies and glockenspiels.

NIRVANA - Smells Like Teen Spirit (Live at the Paramount 1991)

Nevermind (20th Anniversary Edition) 2011

Kvarteret Korpen (1963), Bo Widerberg

Bo Widerberg wrote and directed this domestic drama. Thommy Berggren is Anders, who works at a factory in Malimo, but dreams of being a writer. He lives with his parents in a poor section of the city. His father is an alcoholic whose desire for upper class respectability keeps him from working class employment, while his mother struggles as a washerwoman to earn enough money for the family's survival. Anders writes a first novel that is rejected by the publisher; he turns to the girl next door for sympathy and they fall in love. When she becomes pregnant and wants Anders to marry her, he sees his life unfolding like his parents' and has to decide whether to give up hope and raise a family or to head to Stockholm for a more hopeful future.

Real Estate – Days (2011)

Uz Days Dani Nisu Tu, Idu Tamo Negde Daleko...Sva Sreca...

Real Estate are a rock band that doesn't rock, because rocking would be too unchill. Instead, they lilt, shimmer, and drift. More reverb and they'd drown; more pep and they'd soundtrack commercials. They have a singer, but it's the guitars -- part garage-surf, part music box -- that tie the sound together. Oh, and they play with some precision now -- lame, but it makes them believable. Real Estate's gift is that they either don't overthink their melodies or they can't, and the simplicity contrasts with their steady, dreamy atmospherics: instant nostalgia for an angst-free generation.

My Brightest Diamond – All Things Will Unwind (2011)

My Brightest Diamond (a.k.a. Shara Worden) arrives fully armed with serious art-pop credibility. A veteran of Sufjan Stevens’ Illinoisemakers who used to perform under the moniker AwRY, she’s earned the admiration of Bon Iver, The National’s Bryce Dessner and The Decemberists, among others. But ever since she first arrived on the scene, the operatically trained performer has drawn upon classical musicians as co-conspirators — not for bombast or sentimentality on overdrive, but just the opposite: for warmth, for intimacy. Acoustic instruments bloom under human touch, and that’s what My Brightest Diamond is all about.

All About Eve (1950) , Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Based on the story The Wisdom of Eve by Mary Orr, All About Eve is an elegantly bitchy backstage story revolving around aspiring actress Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter). Tattered and forlorn, Eve shows up in the dressing room of Broadway mega-star Margo Channing (Bette Davis), weaving a melancholy life story to Margo and her friends. Taking pity on the girl, Margo takes Eve as her personal assistant. Before long, it becomes apparent that naïve Eve is a Machiavellian conniver who cold-bloodedly uses Margo, her director Bill Sampson (Gary Merill), Lloyd's wife Karen (Celeste Holm), and waspish critic Addison De Witt (George Sanders) to rise to the top of the theatrical heap. Also appearing in All About Eve is Marilyn Monroe, introduced by Addison De Witt as "a graduate of the Copacabana school of dramatic art." This is but one of the hundreds of unforgettable lines penned by writer/director Joseph L. Mankiewicz, the most famous of which is Margo Channing's lip-sneering admonition, "Fasten your seat belts. It's going to be a bumpy night." All About Eve received 6 Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Mildred Pierce (Todd Haynes,TV mini-series 2011)

Glendale, California, 1931: Mildred Pierce, a young mother with a talent for baking, is left a "grass widow" after throwing her husband, Bert, out of the house. Forced to hunt for work to support herself and her two young daughters, 11-year-old Veda and seven-year-old Ray, Mildred visits an employment agency, only to encounter job opportunities she feels are beneath her.

Belle epoque (Fernando Trueba, 1992)

Belle Epoque," a hot-blooded human comedy from Spain, is indebted equally to Jean Renoir's more bucolic films and to all those old jokes about the farmer's daughter. The farmer in this case is a droll old painter, and he is the father of four pretty, flirtatious and conveniently lonely young women.
The story's traveling salesman, so to speak, is Fernando, a deserter from the Spanish army in the winter of 1930-31. And as the film unfolds, Fernando is made to feel extraordinarily welcome by each and every member of the household. That sounds smirky, but "Belle Epoque" isn't blunt or simple. This warmly inviting film, with its serene mood and leafy, idyllic backdrop, is clever enough to avoid settling the question of whether Fernando is a brazen adventurer or simply a boy toy.

Papa – A Good Woman Is Hard To Find (2011)

Daren Weiss, bubnjar benda Girls izbacio je fantastican ep,
bolji je nego zadnji Girls i s nestrpljenjem se ceka album!
 Cristophere cuvaj se!!!


Romantic song-slingers PAPA are pleased to unveil their limited edition 12″ vinyl EP A Good Woman Is Hard To Find EP, available today on Hit City USA in conjunction with Psychedelic Judaism. The EP is streaming in its entirety courtesy of our friends over at Spinner. As previously announced, PAPA is currently on a national tour supporting Girls. 

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Andrew Bird – Norman (OST) (2011)

Magicna violina za kisna, jesenja popodneva...
Chicago-based film score composer, multi-instrumentalist and lyricist Andrew Bird picked up his first violin at the age of four and spent his formative years soaking up classical repertoire completely by ear. As a teen Bird became interested in a variety of styles including early jazz, country blues and gypsy music, synthesizing them into his unique brand of pop. Since beginning his recording career in 1997 he has released 11 albums, his first solo record Weather Systems coming in 2003. Bird has gone on to record with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and perform at New York’s Carnegie Hall. Most recently he collaborated with inventor Ian Schneller on Sonic Arboretum, an installation at New York’s Guggenheim Museum, and released Fingerlings 4, a collection of solo live recordings from December, 2009. Bird will release a new full-length album on Mom + Pop records in early 2012.

Alberta Cross – The Rolling Thunder EP (2011)

With their first release Broken Side of Time in 2009, Alberta Cross was unfortunately dismissed by some as Brits going Southern rock, which made sense at the time, as the band sounded like a bunch of kids from London who moved to America and attempted to do a poor imitation of My Morning Jacket. But on their newest five-track EP, The Rolling Thunder EP, the band reinvents itself and is much better for it.
The album works like a five-act play, complete with rising action, climax and denouement. “Money For The Weekend” starts off the EP with a fun Black Rebel Motorcycle Club-style bang. What the lyrics lack in depth, with essentially the entire song being the lyrics “There is your money for the weekend, I got a pocket full of change” repeated over and over, the song makes up for in fun.

William D. Drake – The Rising of the Lights (2011)

Mr. Drake’s fourth album – lovingly written and played by all concerned, replete with all the joys and woes a life can muster.
William D. Drake and Onomatopoeia Records proudly announce the release of their new long-playing record, The Rising Of The Lights.
The album’s title is taken from a mysterious cause of death which plagued London during the 18th and 19th centuries. Drake discovered the malady in a Victorian medical journal somewhere among Venice’s labyrinth of canals while on an Italian tour. “I liked the sound of the words: it stuck with me”. This said, The Rising of the Lights is a work at the very peak of health. Whether it be the ancient grind of James Larcombe’s hurdy gurdy, rediscovered gems from The Sea Nymphs project, or the curious fixation on disease, a spice of old time pervades the new compositions. But this record could not come from a different artist, nor be created at a different time. To quote ‘Ornamental Hermit’, titled from the long-forgotten eccentric English practice of wealthy families keeping an elderly, grey-bearded hermit within their grounds, The Rising of the Lights is ‘overflowing with joy and with pain’.

Crooked Fingers – Breaks in the Armor (2011)

The sixth studio album from Archer of Loaf’s grizzled Eric Bachmann dials down the ornate arrangements that adorned previous outings in favor of a more primal and pared-down production style that suits the Athens, Georgia-based singer/songwriter’s most spirited collection of tunes to date. Recorded and mixed by Matt Yelton, the live sound engineer for the Pixies, Breaks in the Armor manages to feel both lived-in and untamed. Written primarily overseas in Taipei, where Bachmann spent most of 2009 teaching English as a second language, the album is both understated and grand. Steeped in the heady waters of Mickey Newbury-meets-Bruce Springsteen-infused heartland heartache and peppered with dusty blasts of gothic outlaw imagery, Breaks in the Armor works best when it’s got nothing to lose. Songs like “Typhoon,” “Bad Blood,” “Black Candles,” and “Went to the City,” the latter of which features a lead vocal that skillfully blurs the line between desperation and redemption, bristle with bonfire bravado and boozy swagger, while hard-hitting midtempo numbers like “Heavy Hours” and “War Horses” feel just as unhinged, though they disguise themselves as ballads. It may not be as pretty as Red Devil Dawn or as road trip-ready as Forfeit/Fortune, but Breaks in the Armor has got more gas in the tank than either of them.

Forest Fire – Staring at the X (2011)

...Nije bas toliko magican kao prvi, ali odlican za pozeleti otici u sumu
i sesti pored pucketave vatre...


Forest Fire’s sophomore record – and first for FatCat – finds the New York foursome taking an electrifying leap forward from the “cosmic americana” of the lauded debut, ‘Survival’ (named top ten album’s by Rough Trade shops, and album of the year by La Blogotheque, among others.)
For ‘Staring at the X’, Forest Fire renew their debut’s focus on instant-classic hooks and lyrics that have earned them favorable comparisons with contemporaries like tour mates Phosphorescent or The Walkmen, but bring a new complexity to their sound – from swaggering guitar-led breakdowns that borrow from NYC forebears Television and Velvet Underground to the darkly insistent pop of British new wavers like Psychedelic Furs or Cocteau Twins to heavy, almost-worthy space-outs.

Hard Labour (1973), Mike Leigh

Mrs. Thornley (Liz Smith) leads a rather miserable existence in Salford. She lives with her husband, Jim (Clifford Kershaw), a night custodian at a toy factory, and their grown daughter, Ann (Polly Hemingway). Mrs. Thornley is a maid who works for an imperious upper-middle class woman, Mrs. Stone (Vanessa Harris). Between her work and her home life, it seems like Mrs. Thornley is always cooking, cleaning, and fielding complaints. Jim spends most of his spare time at the pub, and is pretty cold to his wife, drunkenly demanding sex from her once a week on the night he's not working. Jim's efforts to ingratiate himself to his supervisor, Mr. Shaw (Keith Washington), are met with a stony lecture about dressing properly on the job. Ann, meanwhile, has been spending her time trying to arrange an abortion for her friend Julie (Linda Beckett) with the help of a friendly Pakistani taxi driver, Naseem (an early turn by Ben Kingsley).

Savaging Spires – Savaging Spires (2011)

Enchanting from the off, their eponymous debut is set to become a real cult classic, crossing secret paths between pastoral psych collaging and knowingly meticulous folk composition in the flicker of a hare’s whisker. Wicker Man references abound, but there’s something far more wyrd at play here, an instinctively organic flow between seemingly improvised jamming and full blown choral harmonies bound to take your breath away.
It’s psychedelic is the lushest manner, but not like “damn, i wish this acid would give up now”, and more in that tangible yet almost imperceptible trippy manner, like they’d all supped mead brewed with infected yeast or shared bread baked with lysergic rye and nobody is the wiser.

Pentangle's Bert Jansch dies, aged 67

Bert Jansh, a leading figure in the British folk revival of the 60s and one of the most respected musicians of his generation, has died of cancer aged 67.
A founding member of Pentangle, Jansch was also renowned as a guitar virtuoso and was sometimes hailed as a British Bob Dylan.
Neil Young said: "With deep regret Pegi and I acknowledge the passing of Bert Jansch. Pegi and I were lucky to play with him on all of our shows for the last couple of years. He is a hero of mine, one of my greatest influences. Bert was one of the all-time great acoustic guitarists and singer songwriters. Our sincerest sympathies to his soul mate Loren. We love you Bert."