wavves: “musically, …the beach boys… i’m sorry, i don’t understand the question. i’m really high right now.”

wavves is a band.  they’re kinda popular right now, and here’s a link to a ridiculous interview (in the village voice) with the guy (his name’s also Nathan, but that’s where the similarities end, thankfully) behind the “magic”.  it’s either very profound (see pitchfork review), or profoundly very not (see hipster runoff).  probably the latter, although the music is kinda catchy in a noise-pop-rock-fun kinda way.

Au Revoir Simone

Au Revoir Simone is a great band, comprised of three young women from Brooklyn, NY. I first heard about them when I saw them play here in Vancouver at the Media Club a few years back. My friend Antoine invited me to the show. He had toured (as his project Montag) with the girls and had really good things to say about them. He was right.

The girls just released their most recent album, Still Night, Still Light.  It sounds very much like their other stuff, which is at all not a bad thing.  They’ve got a good sound and they’re sticking to it.

Montag recently released a new album in February of 2009 called Hibernation. It’s available for purchace here.

Au Revoir Simone’s official website.

Montag’s official website.

Here’s a song/video from Au Revoir Simone:

And this is a “teaser” video of bits of songs from Montag’s previous album, Going Places. A bunch of my friends are featured in the video (hey Hazel)!

First & Last POST for JUNE

Just for consistency’s sake, here’s a quick and dirty post for the month of June.

So this month has gone by rather rapidly.  I should have been writing the script for my grad project, but instead I bought a bike, took lots of pictures with Nick’s Nikon D60 and worked just enough to pay the bills (barely).

My baby sister graduated high school.  I had a terrible cold.  And Pacific Cinematheque screened Fellini’s fabulous Amarcord – which I won a pair of tickets to go see!

And Woody Allen’s new movie, Whatever Works, came out here in Vancouver.  It’s funny.  Larry David is hilariously rough around the edges and Evan Rachel Wood’s character is a kind of homage to Mira Sorvino’s in Allen’s earlier Mighty Aphrodite.  Perhaps not as funny as Small Time Crooks, nor as finely tuned and passionate as Vicky Christina Barcelona, Whatever Works is a charmingly capable comedy that has moments of something more.

grizzly bear

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The Limits of Jarmusch

The Limits of Control is the new film by indie-film-star Jim Jarmusch.  Now, to state for the record, I’m a huge fan of this guy.  At the age of 17, I fell instantly for his 1995 film Dead Man, and since then I’ve watched and enjoyed (to one degree or anther) every one of his films.  His work has inspired me to make movies.

Okay, that’s all cleared up, now we can get down to the nitty gritty.  Not everyone adores Mr Jarmusch’s work as much as I do.  In fact, he’s a rather contentious figure among critics and audiences alike.  Hailed everything from “visionary” and “genius” to “hack” and just plain boring, the director is, let’s say, an acquired taste.  His newest film is no exception.

For your consideration, two vastly differing critiques of The Limits of Control.  The first is by Roger Ebert, who hated it, and the second is by J. Hoberman of the Village Voice, who feels the new work is one of Jarmusch’s best.

check out this blog: future shipwreck

future shipwreck is a pretty intelligent blog on art, music, pop-culture etc. that i just came across the other day.

the author’s this young guy who’s apparently doing very well for himself (judging by his posted CV).  he also writes for Spike Jonze’s blog dedicated to his new project/adaptation, Where The Wild Things Are, based on the classic Maurice Sendak children’s book.

interviews

Here’s a couple of links to interviews I enjoyed reading

First one’s with French art critic Nicolas Bourriaud. He made “Relational Aesthetics” a catchphrase in the late 90’s. He’s curating the Tate Triennial this year at the Tate Britain, where he will be attempting to give birth to a new term, “Altermordern”, which is also the name of the Triennial.

Nicolas Bourriaud

The second interview is with American art critic Dave Hickey. He’s been called “ineffable” by the likes of (coincidentally) Bourriaud. He’s teaches at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, and he’s written extensively as a critic for a multitude of publications (just Wikipedia him and you’ll get the idea).

Dave Hickey

junebug

junebug is a great little film.

in a standout performance, amy adams is hilarious and heartbreaking.  the rest of the cast hold their own, save for the guy from the OC … but the awkward acting kinda works with his character.

the style of the film is wonderfully understated, yet so observant.  definitely worth watching more than once.

and the song in the opening titles is so catchy:

politics | youth | revolution

my partner, casey smith, just wrote an interesting, if slightly cheeky (see his last line), blog entry on youth and politics. he is calling for more youth to get involved and even run for political positions.

i agree with this position. if there is a place (and i’m not saying there necessarily is) for old stodgers in the political realm, then why shouldn’t there be an active younger voice? we need to realize that what goes on in politics affects everyone, including/especially the youth; and if we don’t actually DO something about it, we will be continually overlooked and marginalized.

politics affects the arts.

politics affects the youth.

politics affects the public AND the personal.

we must ACT!

i’m an artist, but who’s to say an artist can’t make a political statement … well, at least, who’s gonna stop me. if the students in france could cause such a great change in their political and social landscape in ‘68, what’s stopping the youth of today from getting involved in the political arena?

the answer is: ourselves.

let’s change that.

face mash

these guys are hilarious.

they’re doing that conan o’brien type-thing of mixing together the images of two celebrities’ faces to get one crazy/messed up representation.

some of the face mash pictures look pretty fake (still funny though), but some of them look like actual people (the most hilarious!)

not really a new concept, but anything that makes me laugh like this has got to be worth checking out.