Jun 28, 2012
Right Away, Great Captain! – The Church Of The Good Thief (2012)
...O Captain, My Captain...Rarely does an album review require a spoiler alert. But the plotline of the finale of the Right Away, Great Captain! trilogy is potentially of more interest to some fans than the music. Manchester Orchestra majordomo Andy Hull first introduced the central character—a 17th century sailor who catches his wife in bed with his brother—in 2007’s minimalistic The Bitter End. The Church Of The Good Thief picks up after the implied murderous cliffhanger of 2008’s eclectic The Eventually Home, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be lost if this is your entry into the series.
Peaking Lights – Lucifer (2012)
Zen...Mantra...Zen...Mantra...Zen...Mantra...
Lucifer is the third full length album by Peaking Lights. The follow up to last year’s breakthrough ’936′, this eight track collection of songs is the duo’s most ambitious release to date in terms of approach and scope; touches of analogue electronic dance music, sound collage and straight up pop joining the dub, krautrock and minimal disco of past works in a mesmerisingly coherent fashion.
Essentially, Aaron Doyes and Indra Dunis – the most positive advert for inner-band marriage since Donny and Marie - have continued from where they left off on 936.
Jun 25, 2012
The Testament of Orpheus (1960) , Jean Cocteau
Jun 24, 2012
Jun 23, 2012
... And God Created Woman (1956) , Roger Vadim
Jun 22, 2012
The Devils (Ken Russell, 1971)
...Cudo od filma...Cardinal Richelieu and his power-hungry entourage seek to take control of seventeenth-century France, but need to destroy Father Grandier - the priest who runs the fortified town that prevents them from exerting total control. So they seek to destroy him by setting him up as a warlock in control of a devil-possessed nunnery, the mother superior of which is sexually obsessed by him. A mad witch-hunter is brought in to gather evidence against the priest, ready for the big trial.
After viewing the very first shot of the film, it should come as no surprise to learn that many critics questioned Ken Russell's sanity when 'The Devils' was released in 1971. The text at the very beginning tells us that "this film is based on historical fact", followed by a sequence portraying King Louis XIII as a transvestite sodomite performing a rendition of the Birth of Venus to an audience consisting of Cardinal Richilieu and hordes of homosexuals in drag. Needless to say, most critics did not take kindly to the joke.
Dos (Stathis Athanasiou, 2011)
...a love story, in reverse...Athens & Barcelona, two cities, two love stories, two languages, two realities, two couples that will never meet, two years anniversary... or is it all one?
Headhunters-Hodejegerne (Morten Tyldum,2011)
Roger Brown works as one of the most powerful headhunters in Norway. To support his extravagant lifestyle, he is also an art thief, which he does in cahoots with his friend, the gun toting Ove Kjikerud. They replace the originals with forgeries, which go undetected at least until the trail back to them goes cold. His outward bravado, based primarily on building upon reputation, masks his insecurities, especially in his short physical stature. He feels he needs that confident demeanor and wealth to get what he wants, including his trophy wife, art gallery owner Diana Brown. However, he almost seems to like the thought of what Diana represents more than Diana herself.Jun 20, 2012
Fiona Apple – The Idler Wheel is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw, and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do (2012)
...Zagonetno...Zavodljivo...Nezno...Bucno...LomljivoEvery interview Fiona Apple gives and every song she writes is like her personal social-networking feed: a candid, unfiltered reflection of what she's chosen to share publicly at that instant, without much in the way of forethought or consideration of repercussions. Indicative of this are Apple's statements about her latest album, The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw, and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do, which she has described without reservation as "the excrement of [her] life…the stuff that [she] really needed to get out." It's not a polished sentiment, but it's vintage Apple in that it speaks to a deep-seated, compulsive need to purge her subconscious, however messy the results may be.
Wymond Miles – Under the Pale Moon (2012)
... Prostranstva Nostalgije...Wymond’s previous EP, Earth Has Doors was about intangible and esoteric concepts; the music drifted beautifully in somewhat of an oceanic, boundless state. For the LP it was very important for him to make the songs be felt somatically. In his own words, “I wanted it to hit the body, I wanted it carnal.” Whereas the EP had been a drawn out labor of love he worked on and then shelved for several years, most songs on Under the Pale Moon developed quickly last winter. He describes them as being effortless to write, short songs with stripped down arrangements; recorded straight away as soon as they came to him. Feeling very raw and alive, he wrote the basic structure for most of the record within a few weeks.
Jun 18, 2012
Jun 17, 2012
Jun 16, 2012
Can – The Lost Tapes (3CD/2012)
...Good Morning Spider...Spoon Records and Mute are delighted to announce the release of Can – The Lost Tapes, the long awaited box set of unreleased studio, soundtrack and live material.
The Lost Tapes, out on 18 June 2012, was curated by Irmin Schmidt and Daniel Miller, compiled by Irmin Schmidt and Jono Podmore, and edited by Jono Podmore.
When the legendary Can studio in Weilerswist was sold to the German Rock N Pop Museum, they bought everything, including the army mattresses that covered the walls for sound protection, and relocated it to Gronau.
Whilst dismantling the studio, master tapes were found and stored in the Spoon archive. With barely legible labeling, no one was sure what was on these until Irmin Schmidt and long time collaborator Jono Podmore started to go through over 30 hours of music.
What they found was years of archived material, not outtakes, but rather tracks which had been shelved for a variety of reasons – soundtracks to films that were never released and tracks that didn’t make it onto the final versions of albums due to space.
Jun 13, 2012
The Liftmen – Luftwaffe Pond (2012)
...Album Of The Month...Bristol's scuzzy post-rock charmers return to Twisted Nerve with an overdue follow-up to their acclaimed and eponymous 2008 debut. Sensitively mixed by former Portishead player Jim Barr, 'Luftwaffe Pond' finds the group at a cool junction of Indie-pop, '60s psyche, Krautrock and suave Jazz influences. "This unlikely group of pond-life obsessives formed in the confines of a Bristolian industrial lift in 2002. The spawn of the Liftmen's newt-ridden nucleus begs inadequate comparison with the likes of Prag Vec, Tortoise, Thee Headcoatees and Young Marble Giants but sounds a little bit like none of the above. Consisting of core members Rasha Shaheen, Neil Smith, Jamie Whitby-Coles and Jesse D Vernon, a fully formed The Liftmen first knocked on Twisted Nerve’s door in 2005, making their label debut on the pocket sized second-class- tome ‘Now Is The Winter Of Our Discount Tents’ compilation, and have remained a firm fixture of the label's roster ever since. ‘Luftwaffe Pond’ sees The Liftmen step out of the shaft and into the light, presenting eleven new shapes in amphibious rock music.
Piano Magic – Life Has Not Finished With Me Yet (2012)
...Voyage To The Heart Of Darkness...With 2009’s Ovations (the last official Piano Magic album if we exclude 2010’s self-revisiting limited edition Home Recordings) Glen Johnson and co. had arguably taken Piano Magic’s most electric guitar-driven phase to a logical end. Hence, in the spirit of the band’s cyclical ritual for reinvention – that has expanded and sustained Piano Magic’s life-span many times over since 1997′s Popular Mechanics long-player – Life Has Not Finished With Me Yet is a bold yet highly-refined transformation.
This is not to say that the members of Piano Magic have reincarnated themselves entirely, given that there are declared intentions here to revisit both the baroque elements that peppered 2000’s well-aimed Artists’ Rifles and the electronics that framed 1999’s sublime Low Birth Weight.
Jun 11, 2012
Jun 10, 2012
Jun 9, 2012
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007), Cristian Mungiu
Jun 8, 2012
Foxygen
We are over the moon to introduce the newest member of the Jagjaguwar family, FOXYGEN. The bi-coastal songwriting duo is comprised of Sam France (vocals, Olympia, Wash., 22 years old) and Jonathan Rado (guitar/keyboards, NYC, 22). They are the raw, de-Wes Andersonization of The Rolling Stones, Kinks, Velvets, Bowie, etc. that a whole mess of young people desperately need. They create a sometimes-impressionistic, sometimes-hyper-real portrait of sounds from specific places and times. Yet, it never comes across as anything but absolutely modern music. They bring the manic, freewheeling qualities of an artist like Ariel Pink to those aforementioned influences to make for one of the most refreshing listens of the year. They are the real deal and total savants. Their albums are love letters to vinyl collections.
Foxygen’s debut release, Take The Kids Off Broadway EP, is out July 24th.Jun 7, 2012
Michael (2011) ,Markus Schleinzer
2:54
2:54
"2:54" (2012)
Over the past year 2:54 -sister duo Colette and Hannah Thurlow – have established themselves as one of 2012's most important breakthrough UK bands. Following their signing to Fat Possum, with the announcement of their eponymous debut album they're preparing to unveil the writing and recording work that's occupied much of their time since the band's inception, and fans of their unique and enveloping sound should prepare to have their expectations obliterated.
"2:54" (2012)
Over the past year 2:54 -sister duo Colette and Hannah Thurlow – have established themselves as one of 2012's most important breakthrough UK bands. Following their signing to Fat Possum, with the announcement of their eponymous debut album they're preparing to unveil the writing and recording work that's occupied much of their time since the band's inception, and fans of their unique and enveloping sound should prepare to have their expectations obliterated.
Jun 6, 2012
We Have a Pope (2011) , Nanni Moretti
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros – Here (2012)
...Lek za JOS jedno prolece bez sunca...“Any ol’ shmuck can be a rockstar,” Alex Ebert of Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros once said. And in a sense, that’s probably true. While any ol’ shmuck may not be able to write truly original music, the chillwave phenomenon alone serves as a testament to the power of nostalgia to bolster an artist’s career. But whereas chillwave drew on New Wave, Ebert’s Edward Sharpe draws on ’70s folk, family bands and a time when cruising the country in a van full of your friends, wearing flowy muslin clothing and daisy chains, seemed like a viable career option.
And for Ebert and Co., since 2009, it actually has been. Buoyed by widespread popularity of their single, “Home,” Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros have been doing just that.
Neil Young and Crazy Horse – Americana (2012)
...Lek za postprimaversku realnost...Complain all you want that Neil Young—easily one of the 10 greatest songwriters of the rock ’n’ roll era—hasn’t written a classic album in years. But to define late-model Young via the recorded output of the last decade is to ignore guitar and vocal performances as incendiary, confrontational, and irreverent as ever. On Americana, Young frees himself from the constraints of original material, focusing instead on the textures and raw, adrenal possibilities of his greatest band, Crazy Horse, and a fistful of American folk standards. Like so much that Young does, the concept borders on the perverse, which is precisely why it’s such a kick in the ass.
Jun 5, 2012
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