Video of the Day: N.A.S.A., “Hip-Hop”
Sam Spiegel (brother of “Where the Wild Things Are” director Spike Jonze) and Ze Gonzales bring the boomboxy, with special guests Fatlip from the Pharcyde and the great KRS-One.
DVD Review: “My Bloody Valentine 3D”
Rating: 60
Clearly, there’s a “buy-in” factor that is so crucial to enjoying “My Bloody Valentine 3D,” the 2009 remake of the 1981 slash-tastic psycho-killer thriller — viewers are either there to watch monstrously gory impalements and partial decapitations, or they are not. This is not even a comparatively highbrow return to hallowed ground a la Zack Snyder’s remake of “Dawn of the Dead” — “My Bloody Valentine 3D” is nothing but mining equipment aimed straight at young, dumb and pretty people, maximized for three-dimensional nastiness.
A decade after several teens are brutally killed by deranged miner Harry Warden, the survivors including Tom Hanniger (Jensen Ackles), his girlfriend Sarah (Jaime King) and Axel (Kerr Smith) are all living scarred lives. Tom returns after all this time to find Sarah and Axel married, and he is now the chief suspect of the crimes. But soon Harry resumes his killing spree, and heads are going to roll.
This is best enjoyed as an exceptionally gross amusement park ride — “My Bloody Valentine 3D” is nihilistic to the point that it becomes darkly comic. As for the DVD, viewers must make do with old-fashioned two-color anaglyph glasses — the new technology that makes films like this, ahem, pop in theaters is not widely available for home use. But some viewers won’t mind all that reddish hue: after all, it’s the primary color in “My Bloody Valentine 3D.”
Music Review: Ida Maria, “Fortress ‘Round My Heart”
Rating: 75
What sets Ida Maria Sivertsen and the band that bears her name apart from so many female punk-pop singers is her completely disarming vocal singularity: the Norwegian siren isn’t aping any of her forebears and she’s clearly having a blast on “Fortress ‘Round My Heart.” Witness her goofball, throaty laughter in the verses of “Morning Light” as she experiences a “coyote ugly” moment in bed and cannot wait to get out. And there’s the out-of-breath conversational delivery of the blunt-and-bold single, “I Love You So Much Better When You’re Naked” — Ida Maria’s onto something refreshing and honest with this debut.
Most tracks on “Fortress” are equal parts raw and cooked. The band provides the power and polish on superb dramatic builders such as “Drive Away My Heart” and effervescent rave-ups like “Queen of the World” and “Louie,” but Sivertsen’s vocals sound like great first takes. There’s so little about her voice that sounds studied or worked-over — even the ballad “Keep Me Warm” is sung with brittle, of-the-moment honesty.
Sivertsen closes out “Fortress” with “In the End,” a beautiful acoustic campfire shuffle about the joys of living long and growing old that offers a nice counterpoint to the exposed-nerves caterwauling that precedes it. Here’s hoping that Ida Maria’s career has such longevity.
DVD Review: “Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts”
Rating: 82
Common misperceptions abound with Philip Glass: that the man must be as esoteric as his work, and that his music is entirely minimalist. In fact, much of the composer’s output is classically structured, and director Scott Hicks (“Shine”) finds connections with other mediums and provides context for Glass’ art in “Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts,” a stylish and comprehensive study of one of modern orchestral music’s greatest composers.
Using archival still photography, Hicks chronicles Glass’ beginnings as a SoHo experimentalist, staging concerts in the ‘60s that doubled as atonal performance art. Glass’ work since the mid-‘80s is often lush and romantic, but his early music was often repetitive and dissonant. Eventually, even his staunchest critics came on board as his compositions became more exposed through film (“Koyaanisqatsi”) and collaborations with rock musicians (“Low Symphony,” with David Bowie and Brian Eno).
Originally aired on PBS, “Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts” reveals Glass as an amiable and down-to-earth conversationalist and family man, and collaborators such as Chuck Close, Martin Scorsese and Errol Morris offer considerable insight into his processes and character. The two-DVD set adds three hours of bonus interviews and performances, making “Glass” a fine portrait of a groundbreaking artist.
Music Review: Various Artists, “Ben Folds Presents: University A Cappella”
Rating: 72
Cruising through YouTube, Ben Folds discovered that university a cappella groups seemed to gravitate to his songs. Perhaps it was the classic pop song structures, the challenging arrangements or the joys of singing bursts of profanity in four-part harmony that attracted these college students to Folds’ fraternity. But some of the songs, including a version of the recent “You Don’t Know Me” by the University of Georgia group Someone Else’s Money, were nearly as good as Folds’ originals, prompting the caustic piano master to produce “Ben Folds Presents: University A Cappella.”
This is not barbershop quartet material: most of these Folds favorites are rendered with intricate vocalese (the technique of imitating the sound of instruments) and beat-boxing, so the Leading Tones of Ohio University’s soulful take on “Brick” sounds as lush as the original. The crescendos that are so intrinsic to “Not the Same” get big, brassy treatment from the Spartones of Greensboro, N.C., and the University of Rochester Midnight Ramblers fully enlist in Folds’ classic, “Army.”
As producer, Folds wraps these great amateurs in a warm, polished environment, and even contributes two a cappella versions of his own, “Boxing” and “Effington.” If this is to be considered a “greatest hits” collection, “University A Cappella” is certainly one of the most original of its type, a courageous and ingenious move for a performer who rarely strays from his 88 keys.
Governor Brad Henry Signs Executive Order Honoring the Flaming Lips’ “Do You Realize??”
With over 300 citizens gathered at the Oklahoma History Center to witness the event, Governor Brad Henry signed an executive order Tuesday afternoon proclaiming the Flaming Lips’ “Do You Realize??” the official rock song of Oklahoma.
“The Flaming Lips are great ambassadors for the state of Oklahoma, all over the world, and they are fiercely loyal to the great state of Oklahoma,” Henry said prior to signing the order.
Henry announced the executive order Thursday after a House resolution codifying the official state rock song failed by three votes. The resolution was a response to an online vote held late last year by the Oklahoma History Center and the Oklahoma Film and Music Office, in which “Do You Realize??” drew 51 percent of more than 21,000 cast votes.
Lips singer Wayne Coyne, who joined Henry at the signing along with bandmates Michael Ivins, Steven Drozd and Kliph Scurlock, thanked Henry for signing the order “despite the silliness that happened at the end of last week.” Members of the House objected to a shirt emblazoned with a Soviet hammer and sickle Ivins wore during the vote on the Senate version of the resolution, as well as Coyne’s use of profanity during the 2007 “Flaming Lips Alley” dedication ceremony in Bricktown.
For the signing ceremony, Ivins wore a not-so-controversial “Ghostbusters” T-shirt under a tweed blazer, and Coyne, admittedly under pressure, avoided any use of profanity.
“I promised Scott (Booker), our manager, and everybody involved today that, despite my genuine excitement and enthusiasm, I would not use the ‘f-word,’” Coyne said after the signing. “I haven’t yet, have I? Sometimes it just jumps out.”
Booker, who is also executive director of the University of Central Oklahoma’s Academy of Contemporary Music, said that Tuesday’s executive order was the best possible outcome after the previous week’s events.
“I think it went great — it couldn’t have gone better, actually,” Booker said. “To allow this to still happen, even though there were some people that were upset, is a wonderful thing. But the bottom line is, and this is what we were saying all along, is that the majority of the people wanted it to be ‘Do You Realize??’ It’s still the will of the people, and that’s a wonderful thing.”
Coyne, who frequently waved to the crowd and shook his fist in celebration during opening words, described the honor as a “bonus” for all the positive things that have happened in the band’s 26-year career.
“I said it when we were given the alley down in Bricktown … I’ve said this all along: we never needed a street; we never needed these types of official things,” Coyne said. “We’ve always felt … loved and we always felt that people believed in us. These things have all just been extra wonderful bonuses to what was already a wonderful life.”
The state rock song vote was held in conjunction with “Another Hot Oklahoma Night: A Rock & Roll Exhibit.” The exhibit opens Saturday at the Oklahoma History Center, honoring the state’s rock ‘n’ roll legacy.
Lips Flap Hits “The Rachel Maddow Show”
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” covered the Oklahoma Rock Song situation last night, complete with a photo from The Oklahoman’s Steve Gooch and a huge shout-out to Governor Brad “Yoshimi” Henry. The salient part begins at 3:58.
Signing Ceremony, Oklahoma Rock Song
At 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 27, Governor Brad Henry will sign an executive order proclaiming the Flaming Lips’ “Do You Realize??” the official Oklahoma Rock Song. This is a public ceremony held at the Oklahoma History Center, 2401 N. Laird. Staticblog encourages all regular readers and friends of the blog to attend and show support for Oklahoma’s rock history and heritage.
Random 10 for April 27, 2009
1. A.C. Newman, “Submarines of Stockholm.” One of the chief pop-smut artists of the New Pornographers goes it alone, and does so greatly. Perhaps he’d argue this point, but Newman seems like one of these artists who has more songs in his brain than he can physically churn out.
2. David Cross, “Weathermen, For the Most Part, Have Become Obsolete!”
3. Lupe Fiasco, “Real.”
4. Mercury Rev, “The Funny Bird.”
5. Beastie Boys, “Ch-Check It Out.” A recent episode of “The Unusuals” featured Adam “Pencil Boy” Goldberg pursuing a one-man band down a busy New York street to this song, and you can imagine the director seeing this footage and saying, “Yeah, if Goldberg weren’t an actor, he’d be a Beastie.” At least they didn’t go with “Sabotage” — that would have been too obvious.
6. McLusky, “Dave, Stop Killing Prostitutes.”
7. Peter Murphy, “Indigo Eyes.”
8. Wolf Parade, “Modern World.”
9. Linus of Hollywood, “Goodbye to Romance.”
10. Bat For Lashes, “Daniel.” Because I wanted to bring my productivity and that of many Staticblog readers to a grinding halt.
Video of the Day: Ed Kelley, “Lip Service”
I’m so proud to work for this man. For those of you who go directly to Staticblog without passing through NewsOK, this is an opportunity to see this organization’s leadership stepping up at a time when sane words were required.
