Video of the Day: U-N-I, “Hollywood Hiatus”
From the L.A. underground hip-hop group’s upcoming disc, A Love Supreme, which has precious little to do with John Coltrane, but still pretty damned original.
DVD Review: “The Education of Charlie Banks”
Rating: 64
When reviewing “The Education of Charlie Banks,” it’s hard to avoid discussing this coming-of-age story as if one has just witnessed a badger reciting the Magna Carta — after all, this is the shockingly strong directorial debut by Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst. The rap-rock blusterer displays a sharp eye for period detail and narrative flow in this story about class consciousness and the ways of a sociopath.
Jesse Eisenberg (“Adventureland”) possesses a flair for playing young men like Charlie Banks, who is so awkward it actually endears him to the cool kids. The privileged Charlie has a complicated relationship with Mick (Jason Ritter), a brutal working-class punk who Charlie both fears and reveres. Mick sees Charlie as his entry into a better life, but the disruptive sparks in Mick’s mind wreak havoc on Charlie and his friends (Christopher Marquette, Eva Amurri), and Charlie’s decision to withhold key information about Mick allows a bad situation to spill over.
In his relaxed and thoughtful commentary with Ritter, Durst offers gracious appreciations of his actors’ work — it’s as if everything that came before in Bizkit’s “Nookie,” “Break Stuff” and “Rollin’” was just another performance. While his follow-up, “The Longshots,” was a predictable sports underdog film, “Charlie Banks” proves that Durst could soon have a significantly other future.
Music Review: Phoenix, “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix”
Rating: 84
Beginning with 2000′s “United,” Phoenix’s stylistic alchemy involved merging the crisp precision of electronica with the energy and structure of power-pop, but that aesthetic reaches maturity on the Parisian band’s fourth collection, “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.” Beginning with the passionate indecision of “Lisztomania,” a reference to Ken Russell’s bizarre 1975 cult film, singer Thomas Mars, guitarists Laurent Brancowitz and Christian Mazzalai, and bassist Deck D’Arcy create their richest dance-rock romance.
Mars conducts a fast-paced argument with himself on “Lisztomania” as the band shuffles like an android version of The Strokes, leading into the bright and chiming rave-up “1901” and the luxurious disco of “Fences.” At this stage in “Wolfgang,” the album begins to take on the high-gloss cool of the band’s associates in Air as the band downshifts into the two-part “Love Like a Sunset.”
Phoenix closes “Wolfgang” strongly with the warm-toned “Girlfriend” and the shifting beats of “Armistice” — two songs that offer textbook examples of what makes the band’s rhythmic swirl so engaging. Mars can be a cryptic lyricist, but as he argues with himself over the perils of love, he offers a charming counterpoint to Phoenix’ bright instrumentation and forward momentum. “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix” is the disc that could catapult the band from cult-obsession to the mass adulation they describe in “Lisztomania.”
Random 10 for June 16, 2009
1. She & Him, “Black Hole.” M. Ward and Zooey are working on “Vol. 2,” but to tide you over, there is a nice cover of The Smiths’ “Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want” on the “(500) Days of Summer” soundtrack.
2. Cocteau Twins, “Fifty Fifty Clown.”
3. VHS Or Beta, “Euglama.”
4. St. Vincent, “Actor Out of Work.”
5. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, “Contender.”
6. Hot Chip and Peter Gabriel, “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa.” “And it feels so unnatural … to sing your own name.”
7. Battles, “Tij.”
8. Bob Dylan, “Oxford Town.”
9. Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, “Inspiration Information.”
10. Metric, “Sick Muse.” With Fantasies, Metric achieved the neat trick of creating a great, accessible pop album without making it sound compromised or a betrayal of the band’s previous work. It’s like the album No Doubt might have made had they not been such cartoon buffoons.
Music Review: Diane Birch, “Bible Belt”
Rating: 68
Evoking the pure and warm sound of classic singer-songwriter albums, Diane Birch’s “Bible Belt” is dedicated to golden-hued, pre-digital honesty. From the doo-wop cadences and gospel organ that open “Fire Escape,” Birch wraps each song in classicist clothing — the collection might not sound exactly like Carole King’s “Tapestry” or Laura Nyro’s “Eli and the Thirteenth Confession,” but Birch’s earthy approach wedges nicely between them.
“My tears don’t show, but oh honey, they flow,” Birch sings with sass in the gospel-flavored “Valentino,” evoking Nyro’s sweet soul-jazz style. Producers Betty Wright and Steve Greenberg maintain a strict no-artifice policy for the mix: there’s not a single sound on “Bible Belt” that could only be made after, say, 1975. This is particularly evident on the first single, “Nothing But a Miracle,” a mid-tempo soul ballad fueled by Fender Rhodes and horns — subtract Birch’s vibrato-soaked vocals, and it’s an arrangement for a Roberta Flack or Phoebe Snow album.
Thanks to Wright, a Southern soul legend who knows how to craft authentic-sounding retro R&B, “Bible Belt” rarely sounds like pastiche. Birch seems to have genuine understanding of why this music works, which makes her a far better subject than Wright’s most prominent experiment in blue-eyed soul, Joss Stone — “The Soul Sessions” is a classic case of a performer not being up to the task of interpreting amazing material. While Birch is a decade older than Stone was when she recorded that disc, “Bible Belt” suffers slightly when Birch betrays her relative youth — “Don’t Wait Up” is about blowing curfew, of all things — but at 26, there is plenty of time for depth of experience to catch up with Birch’s ageless style.
Video of the Day: Busdriver, “Me-Time”
W.A. Mozart’s “Sonata in A Major” is the new “Funky Drummer.” I had some traumatic childhood birthday parties, but nothing like this.
Static, Episode 16: The Pretty Black Chains
Interview
“1964″
“Ambulance”
“I Don’t Wanna Know”
Video of the Day: Animal Collective, “Summertime Clothes”
Wayne Coyne should look into this exciting innovation in hamster balls — now with legs!
Static, Episode 15: The Bart Crow Band
Interview
“Understand”
“Hollywood”
“Traded It All For Love”
“45 Ridiculous Photos of Boy Bands”
This Buzzfeed post is a voluminous and hilarious compendium of bad poses, unfortunate wardrobe choices, frosted tips and peculiar eyewear — most of it (with the exception of “Shorts and a Onesie,” above) from 10 years ago, but you’d swear they were older.
