So that just happened . . . I met Geologist last night

So I was at a Flaming Lips concert at Merriweather Post Pavilion, the venue which lends its name to Animal Collective’s most recent triumph.  When the concert ended I thought I recognized a man waiting for somebody by the exit as Brain Weitz, better known as Geologist from Animal Collective.  Sure enough, it was he.  I went up to him, thanked him for his great music, spoke of my fandom, probably made a huge fool of myself, and shook the man’s hand.  He was a nice lad and he told me it was nice to meet me, even though I can’t really see how that would be possible.

Interesting to see that the guys from Animal Collective weren’t screwing around when they picked the name for their album, they live in Baltimore and they go to Merriweather to see shows.  They love Maryland and so do I.  Thanks again Brian, it was great to meet you.

Listen to This: The XX

Four nineteen year-old Brits come together, crafting the sound that would emerge if Kelly Clarkson joined forces with one of the dudes from Frightened Rabbit and they had New Order as their backing band. . .

Debut is out now via Rough Trade.

The Jam of the Summer: Diamond Rings “All Yr Songs”

Is this dance pop’s talented answer to Soulja Boi?  Perhaps.  His name is John O.  He is from Toronto.  He goes by the name Diamond Rings.  Acquaint yourself! (via Pitchfork, via Chromeowaves)

Why didn’t anybody tell me 500 Days of Summer was the most depressing film since Schindler’s List?

A fair warning would have been nice.  This movie looked cute and innocent, kind of like the vibe you get when you catch a brief glimpse Zooey Deschanel’s infectious blue eyes.  My initial thoughts:”Oh, an indie friendly, quirky romantic comedy with one of the cutest actresses around.  This should be a nice little film.”  WRONG.

This movie pulls you in the same way those eyes do, using mostly Summer (Deschanel) to do so, and then, as you come to identify with Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), as you live vicariously through him, feeling all of the feelings he feels for Summer, 500 Days of Summer sticks its once innocent, cute little-girl arm through your ribcage, pulls out your heart, and throws that shit in the trash along with Tom’s.  But it does it so well, it’s hard to get mad at it.  It’s one of the most bittersweet movie going experiences I’ve ever had.  I love Zooey Deschanel, but for a little while after seeing this movie, I hated her with a passion.  I got over it, but unfortunately Gordon-Levitt’s character never will.  Not for the weak hearted, and not for those who just got out of a relationship.  What a sad, sad film.  I hope Zooey doesn’t pull that shit on Ben Gibbard in real life.

Inglourious Basterds is well worth seeing

“I think this may be my masterpiece” – the last words uttered by Pitt in the film could be Tarantino’s very own reaction to watching his latest epic.  From opening credits to the final scroll, this is a must see for anybody infatuated with the art of filmmaking.  Tarantino takes every aspect of the modern movie, puts his own spin on it, and never ceases to amaze.

Listen to this: KONG – Snake Magnet

Public Image Ltd. meets Liars meets Hella meets yell your face off:

http://hypem.com/track/883910/Kong+-+Leather+Penny

Album Review: Mount Eerie – Wind’s Poem

There’s a scene in Fargo, the Coen Brothers’ 1996 masterpiece, in which a frustrated Steve Buscemi bangs his open fist atop a snowy television set inside of a cold cabin. As he hits the casing in a futile effort, cursing at it repeatedly, the camera slowly zooms in on the gray static. Slowly, the shot gets tighter, zeroing in on the screen until finally the screen consumes the entire composition and, like magic, turns to a clear picture. When I listen to the first two songs found on Wind’s Poem, the latest from Phil Elverum’s Mount Eerie, I can’t help but picture this scene. Not because the scene’s content relates particularly to that of the album, but because that’s what most of it sounds like. One moment can pound with raw, ear-bleeding fuzz just before it clears up into tranquil wanderings.

A near foil to the sparseness of last year’s Lost Wisdom, an album consisting of solely acoustic guitar and voice, this thing is flooded with all sorts of noise. It’s almost as if an entirely different person is responsible for it. But then you remember who it is you’re dealing with. This is Phil Elverum. You know, the guy responsible for The Glow Pt. 2. The guy who opened the album Mount Eerie with a 17-minute song meant to simulate the listener’s birth, crafted from breaking static, heartbeats, and tribal drums. Like some of its predecessors, Wind’s Poem will straight up smack you in the face . . . and you’ll like it for that.

If unaccustomed with what Mr. Elverum does, especially on the Mount Eerie front, it may be even more jarring to listen to Wind’s Poem. Even the biggest Microphones/Mount Eerie fans will be surprised by the album’s crassness. But, as a follower of the journey that has been Elverum’s ever-flowing output, it’s every bit as exhilarating as it should be. Listening to Mount Eerie is like sitting in a recording studio with a troubled genius. As listener, you are almost watching Elverum discover himself, observing as he finds his new sounds and vision. He recorded his own seclusion in Norway with Dawn, to which a 144-page book accompanies. He has released dozens of EPs and unofficials, which he sells through his own label and website, PW Elverum and Sun. He is always making something available to the public and is deeply invested in his music. With each unique release, the guy is looking back to what he has done previously, often revisiting earlier songs in new ways or drawing lyrics and melodies from past compositions. Elverum doesn’t appear to hide much from his listeners, and with his music you really get a sense of how much this guy loves what he does. Elverum isn’t a songwriter. He lives and breathes in his music, or at least it would appear that way.

His latest vision, previewed by last year’s Black Wooden Ceiling Opening EP, leans toward the dark noise of what Elverum describes as Black Metal. Mainly the influence of American Black Metal/Ambient act, Xasthur. This would explain the sometimes painful noises that can be found all over the new record. But, despite a pretty different addition to the Mount Eerie repetoire, and one that would be ostensibly out of place and unpleasant, the result is every bit as gorgeous as before, only now there’s some dark, dark shit going on musically.

As always, a good pair of headphones is a must. One must note that this is not driving music. This is not background music. This is pay-the-fuck attention or you’ll miss something music. Elverum has always been known for his pension for throwing your ears into a frenzy, engineering strums and other noises to alternate phones left and right. Not as much of that is here, but still, you’d better put on some buckets for this one anyways.

As the title suggests, wind is the largest theme on this thing. To Elverum, this is pretty much what he advertises it as, wind’s poem. The disc captures the overpowering feel of nature, something massive and all encompassing, the details of which are often overlooked by Earth’s inhabitants. With each track, Elverum comments that while nature is omnipresent, most of the time people don’t even notice it’s there. When we do try to find meaning in it, it’s damn near impossible to do so. To even attempt to analyze nature and make some meaning of it, you really have to pay attention. I find myself feeling the same way about this record. I squint with my ears to hear what Elverum has to say, trying to make out the quiet whispers through the fuzzed-out static of “Wind’s Dark Poem”, the LP’s opening track. I am watching a television filled with gray noise. I can almost make out the lyrics and melody found on Lost Widsom’s “Flaming Home”, only now those words take on an entirely different meaning. I hit the screen and lean in closer and closer, and suddenly, after four minutes, it clears up. Elverum is showing us nature through the chaos and subtlety he has closely juxtaposed. In nature, apparent disorder exists alongside seemingly calculated beauty. That’s exactly what you’ll find on Wind’s Poem. Static engulfs every other track — the sound you’d get if you recorded strong winds and filtered the muffled cries through heavy distortion. Sometimes those crashes combine with harsh drums and metal guitar riffs, but all as one unit of noise. This is how Elverum portrays the wind, which he finds so confusing. Underneath it is Elverum’s soft croon, a voice that could make anything sound profound. With it, Elverum cogitates his own place in the vastness that is nature, how the natural world speaks to him, and how he reacts. He hears the wind “singing words” that he doesn’t know, as his own sonic interpretation of wind nearly drowns him out. He hears a language in nature, and he wants to decode it. It’s thought provoking, startling, and demands repeated listens to even grasp any sense of what it all means.

Recurring themes of “words in the wind” capture the intimate thoughts of a guy who desperately wants to understand it all but can’t. On “Lost Wisdom pt. 2″, he comments, “I think the screaming wind said my name” and picks out “the sound of the river sighing/here’s your home.” In his intense reflections, he nearly gives up: “nothing means nothing/everything is fleeting.” The wind carries intense introspection, violently rushing in when it pleases. The gusty blows do take a break, however, to let some other natural sounds make their way in. “Between Two Mysteries”, one of the finest Mount Eerie tracks to date, is a perfect example of the balance Elverum has attained here. With elegant click-clacking, palm muted electric strums, and string synthesizers that recall the Twin Peaks soundtrack, the song is as peaceful as they come, amid an album of coarse drones. Side by side, this stuff will consume you.

What is this beast and where did it come from? If you stare intently enough through the dense trees and claustrophobic winds of Elverum’s latest triumph, you might be able to excavate some fragment of an answer. But the true beauty here is that, like in nature, there really isn’t one to find; just a collection of thoughts and reactions to the very dilemma of attempting to draw conclusions from something so vast and complex that it’s frightening. This is one man’s quest for making sense out of chaos, hitting a wall, and accepting the immensity for what it is. In the end, Elverum proves that we don’t need an answer after all; all we really need is Wind’s Poem.

Grade: A+

Check Out:

Buy:
Wind’s Poem

Also available at Consequence of Sound

Hipster Runoff Merch now available

If you want to sport this sweet Hipster Runnoff shirt, go over here.  For $3,000 Carles will hand deliver it and you can ‘chill’ with her.  Worth it I think.

Might have to get one myself!

Highlights from my late night facebook chat with the one and only Greg Sestero

For most who know me, or for those who have been in contact with me over the course of the past few months, my obsession with Tommy Wisseau’s cinematic tour de force, The Room, and particularly with Room co-star Greg Sestero probably isn’t too much of a secret.  For a couple of months it was all I could think about, the topic of nearly every one of my conversations.  As time passed, The Room became more and more a part of who I was and less a simple form of entertainment.  So, it goes without saying, that I wasn’t going to stop at merely viewing this thing in the comforts of my own home.  I wanted to talk to the people responsible for this life changing film.  But I had no way of doing so, and up until last night, I didn’t think I ever would.

The other night, while clicking about facebook, seeing if the name Greg Sestero was in anybody else’s Facebook information, as it is in my profile under Political Views, I found that Mr. Sestero was in fact a participant in the cultural internet phenomenon.  Needless to say, I sent a friend request his way without hesitation.

The request was promptly accepted within hours, as notified by one of the coolest emails I have ever received: “Greg Sestero has confirmed your friend request on Facebook.”  Of course, suspicious of phoniness, I wasn’t all too excited.  But then, last night, upon scouring the list of online friends in fb chat as I do so often, there appeared the man himself.  At first I shrugged it off, but then reflected, “Why not give him a try, if it isn’t him, who cares?  If it is, all the better.”

I am glad I didn’t succumb to my inhibitions.  Greg Sestero is on facebook, and he’s willing to talk to you.   A warm reception, prompt answers to my arduous questioning, and legitimate conversation ensued at the late hour of 1 am.  Here is the result of my late night shenanigans, Enjoy:

Drew

is this the real greg sestero

1:17amGreg

yes

1:17amDrew

how can i be sure?

1:17amGreg

You’re tearing me apart!

1:17amDrew

that is a tommy quote

1:18amGreg

I’m just sitting here thinking…

1:18amDrew

ok so you’re a fake

i see

1:18amGreg

it’s really me

1:19amDrew

can you tell me what part of patch adams you’re in?

1:20amGreg

The funeral scene when the Monica Potter character dies….

1:20amDrew

wow amazing

ive been meaning to try to find you

you just saved me some time

1:20amGreg

middle of the movie..in it for about 6 seconds

1:20amDrew

btw, i watched retro puppetmaster

1:21amGreg

haha enjoy it?

1:21amDrew

you’re good in it, but the movie as a whole is rather disappointing

1:21amGreg

I know..it was fun shooting in Romania. but i didnt care for the final edit

1:22amDrew

got any jobs in the works?

1:22amGreg

http://popwatch.ew.com/2008/12/30/the-room-postsc/

follow up from ew…a lot of buzz from The Room..who would have thought:)

1:23amDrew

i mean, you’re the best part of the room

1:24amGreg

thanks…it was a blast making it…i never thought anyone would see it…how did u find it?

1:24amDrew

i read about it in EW

and then bought it for my friend

and watching it was the best thing i ever did

1:25amGreg

The EW article really helped explain the madness..have you seen it with an audience?

1:25amDrew

no

ive been dying to

1:25amGreg

u have to…what city r u in?

1:25amDrew

i am in MD

but i go to school a few hours from NYC

1:29amGreg

did you see the abc news clip?

1:29amDrew

no i did not

1:29amGreg

ABC World News
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?cl=14786238

you have to watch it…this was abc world news with charles gibson

1:30amDrew

i will definitely

would you ever be interested in an official interview

i write for a blog

and do my own blog

maybe just something over facebook like this

we could even do one right now, lol

1:31amGreg

yeah..the next few weeks are a little crazy, but at the end of the month

1:31amDrew

what about tommy?

ive been really interested in the movie since i saw it

1:31amGreg

sept would b good

1:31amDrew

thatd be great

how should we do it?

1:32amGreg

facebook or phone

http://popwatch.ew.com/2009/03/23/the-room-takes/

here’s another link for you

1:33amDrew

haha awesome

so how do you feel about the room

did you think while you were making it, that it was going to be a good film

1:34amGreg

it’s pretty amazing what’s it turned into…i never thought a good film, just entertaining:)

1:36amDrew

well do you think it’s funny? Or do you take it as a serious work?

1:37amGreg

i think it’s hilarious! trying not to laugh a lot of times was part of the challenge:)

1:37amDrew

yeah thats what i was wondering!

like there are some scenes that i wonder if it was unbearable to shoot. Was it incredibly painful to be a part of?

1:37amGreg

the part where mike falls in the trashcan was my fav or in a few minutes bitch

1:37amDrew

in that sense

1:38amGreg

some scenes were difficult..i just just kept thinking..paycheck:)

1:38amDrew

hahaha

as far as the budget, Tommy claims its in the millions? Was that partially because he overpaid you guys as actors? overpaid the music credits?

did you make a lot of money working on it?

1:40amGreg

let’s save these fun questions for the interview:) i gotta hit the sack….

1:41amDrew

ok

do you mind if i post this convo on my blog

1:41amGreg

Blog it as a whole when we finish watch the abc news clip you’ll love it!!

1:42amDrew

id like to get what i have up now just for fun

nobody reads it anyways

and ill watch those things right away

is that cool?

1:43amGreg

sounds good

1:43amDrew

okey dokey

how should we set up the interview?

can i get your email or something

1:43amGreg

XXXXXXXXXX

1:44amDrew

alright do you respond there?

1:44amGreg

yes

1:44amDrew

should we just communicate through there and facebook? id really like to have something scheduled

lol

im thrilled to actually be talking to you

lol

1:45amGreg

prob the first week of sept

1:46amDrew

ok

ill just talk to you through fb and email then

if you dont mind ask tommy about coming to skidmore college for a screening and talk

1:46amGreg

sounds good! Youre a sport

1:46amDrew

haha thanks, love your work

big fan

1:47amGreg

1:47amDrew

keep off the grass, its no wonder you cant think straight

Greg

lol

I plan to interview the man officially come September, and hopefully the room cast will Grace the Skidmore campus in the fall semester.  Thanks for your time Greg.

Don’t expect that new Radiohead album anytime soon . . .

It’s a bittersweet day for the Radiohead fan. Though yesterday’s release of the pretty impressive, orchestral “Harry Patch (In Memory of)” might have been seen as forward progression towards the release of Radiohead’s eight long player, it was merely a tease. In the 2009 Music issue of The Believer, Thom Yorke revealed that the band is not thinking about putting a new album out anytime soon. Instead, we can look forward to some singles, EPs, and other odds and ends for a while.

Via Pitchfork: “None of us want to go into that creative hoo-ha of a long-play record again. Not straight off,” Yorke said. “I mean, it’s just become a real drag. It worked with In Rainbows because we had a real fixed idea about where we were going. But we’ve all said that we can’t possibly dive into that again. It’ll kill us.” There seems to be a sense of finality in the aforementioned quote, but we will have to pray it isn’t so for now.

It’s a bit sad to think that a group of musicians who have always prided themselves on their reverence for the classic album have decided to take a break from doing what they do best. But, in the case of Radiohead, such a break is only further proof of just how much respect the lads have for the prestige of a classic record: “I mean, obviously, there’s still something great about the album. It’s just, for us, right now, we need to get away from it a bit… In Rainbows was a particular aesthetic and I can’t bear the idea of doing that again. Not that it’s not good, I just can’t… bear… that.”

The guys have always been known for their brash, selfless decisions, always doing what they think is best for the music and even if that’s not necessarily what is best for them as human beings. Meeting People Is Easy captures this ideology rather beautifully. Simply by looking at the existence of Kid A, a completely alienating and off-kilter showing which followed up the uber-successful rock of OK Computer, it is easy to see that Radiohead isn’t putting out records just because they can. They have a mission, and right now that mission isn’t to put out a sub-par album.

So what’s in store from Oxford’s best if not proper LPs? The guys could be going in a more orchestral direction according some statements made by Yorke in the interview: “Jonny [Greenwood] and I have talked about sitting down and writing songs for orchestra and orchestrating it fully and just doing it like that and then doing a live take of it and that’s it — finished. We’ve always wanted to do it, but we’ve never done it because, I think the reason is, we’re always taking songs that haven’t been written for that, and then trying to adapt them. That’s one possible EP because, with things like that, you think, Do you want to do a whole record like that? Or do you just want to get stuck into it for a bit and see how it feels?”

So in other words, the guys are being very diligent. They want to continue to make music, but in a way that frees them up creatively. When you look at it on the bright side, they are really just taking some time off to explore a musical direction for an album which will come in due time. It seems as if they just don’t want to put out anything that isn’t spectacular. Thus, for them, at this point, EPs and one-offs are the way to go. It’s sad, but in the longrun it could be “All For The Best.”

In the interview, Yorke went on to discuss his positive feelings regarding the fall of the CD and the music industry altogether: “I mean, I always hated CDs. Me and Stanley [Donwood] always hated CDs. Just a fucking nightmare. There’s a process of natural selection going on right now. The music business was waiting to die in its current form about twenty years ago. But then, hallelujah, the CD turned up and kept it going for a bit. But basically, it was dead” (via Prefix).

Hopefully the music industry isn’t dead. Hopefully Radiohead isn’t dead. Hopefully… yeah. For now, get out the Kleenex, take a long hard look at seven great records and pray that there will be an eighth sometime soon. Until then, orchestral EPs and singles will have to do. But, hey, it is Radiohead, I think they’ve got it under control.

For the full Believer interview, it appears you’ll have to throw up a heap of dough to get a copy mailed to you or buy it in the store? This to be clarified.

also available at CoS