Mount Eerie – Clear Moon (2012) [PW Elverum & Sun] // Grade: B

I am not the only one who finds it difficult to write an accurate and concise review of this, or any Mount Eerie album.  Ex-Microphones front man Phil Elverum is as elusive and artist as he seems a person.  An almost invisible personality hidden away in a small town somewhere in Washington.  Throughout these eight years, the music of Mount Eerie has matured.  What was once a little lo-fi bedroom project seems to have grown.  Still, somehow, the same spirit of personal experimentation seems to exist, even if the production values seem slightly higher.

Mount Eerie has always existed in a false sense of obscurity.  It doesn’t really matter how many copies of your albums you press, in today’s digital age people will get a chance to listen to it if they want.  Elverum, it seems, uses this faux exclusivity as a sort of mission statement.  He does not necessarily make this music for anyone but himself.  Sometimes it shows.  The majority of “Clear Moon” is a pretty dark journey.  This will be the second week in a row that I have mentioned Will Oldham influence (the last was in reference to the latest Merchandise album,) but this time the ghosts of Bonnie Prince Billy resonate from almost every pore of this release.  The same slow and dense pacing seems to exist, a drowned despair that makes the album both engaging and unlistenable at the same time.

The album works best when it is at its most adventurous.  The 4/4 swing of “House Shape” vaguely suggests dance music in some abstract way, and the pastoral “Over Dark Water” featuring  Ô Paon’s Geneviève Castré breaks a certain gray with a splash of color.  Altogether though, this album is a work of art.  It is challenging, and not really a hell of a lot of fun, but remains a completely satisfying journey.

Fatima Al Qadiri – D-Medley

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Light Asylum – Heart of Dust

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Ab-Soul – Terrorist Threats (feat. Danny Brown & Jhene Aiko)

When Blood Orange‘s debut album Coastal Grooves dropped late last year I listened to it once or twice and moved on. But I gotta say, I’ve found myself returning to it more than I thought. I definitely think it’s Dev Hynes’ most successful release, more synthesized and cohesive that anything he did as Lightspeed Champion or Test Icicles. Plus he’s bolstered the casual cool of his songs with a series of great videos.

Going in a completely different direction that the tumblr-gone-melancholy visuals for “Champagne Coast“, the “I’m Sorry We Lied” clip depicts a doomed encounter that owes more that a little bit to Nicolas Windig Refn’s Drive (complete with abdominal knife wounds!). That’s okay though, because the song is cool and Hynes looks kind of like a guy who would ride an awesome motorcycle but also not at all. Once you put fingerless gloves in the mix though, all bets are off.

Last week we saw a teaser for director Franck Khalfoun’s take on the William Lustig classic Maniac, which made mannequins even weirder than they were before and established Tom Savini as the king of head splattering gore effects. Now, because apparently the studio has no sense of pacing for their marketing, we get a full length, very NSFW trailer for currently release-date-less film. Elijah Wood, taking over for Joe Spinelli, is certainly… uhh… doing his thing.

It’s definitely 100% confirmed now that the movie will be entirely in first person, which could be cool and could also make it unwatchable. I like Wood though (pause) and the film is written by the very talented Alexandre Aja, so I’m definitely willing to roll with this. They certainly seem to be ready to roll with the violence, as there’s plenty of scalping here of both the corporeal and plasticine variety. Plus Elijah Wood looking like he hasn’t slept in a week. There better be a shotgun blast though…

Well here’s a bittersweet little pill for all you gamers out there: after just one game, the fantasy RPG Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, upstart gaming company 38 Studios has shut its doors, firing almost 400 employees after defaulting on loan payments to the state of Rhode Island. Now I’m sure some of you are wondering what part of that is sweet for me. Well, the studio was founded by former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, so on one level: fuck you Red Sox Nation! But beyond that slight schadenfreude, this is actually a pretty bummer event.

The blockbuster gaming market is so, so hard (read: impossible, apparently) to break into these days, and a lot of developers are avoiding the nightmarish battle altogether by doing small, downloadable titles. But Curt Schilling, a longtime table game enthusiast with a passion for gaming and high fantasy, had commendably lofty aspirations for his (comparatively) little company. And Amalur was a damn fine game, with some great combat mechanics and an RA Salvatore created world that had some real potential down the line. Guess we won’t ever see those Amalur sequels, even though screenshots from an Amalur set MMO were leaked by the company yesterday, perhaps trying to put off their demise. Didn’t work. So fine Treyarch/Infinity Ward/EA/Bethesda/Capcom. Enjoy all of the monies.

For whatever reason (oh yeah, everything is shitty and broken…) even our most potentially fun action movies have taken a turn for the dour and serious. Christopher Nolan’s Batman films are the obvious examples to point to here, but even more lighthearted fare like The Avengers and Star Trek had their fair share of brooding and pathos. Oftentimes this is exhibited most purely in the villains who are downcast, bitter people with some serious and sad personal issues.

That’s all well and good, and sure it probably makes for some deeper storytelling, but we’ve definitely drifted away from the time when people where about villainy for villainies sake. I miss vilains just being goofy motherfuckers with one or two weird visual signifiers, a collection of one liners, and a utterly over the-top hammy performance. Let’s take a look back at some of the best. Here’s the High Five.

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5. Bennett (Commando) // Vernon Wells

All you need to know about Vernon Well’s performance in the perennially underrated and bizarrely forgotten Commando can be captured in that nightmare inducing face you see above you. As the former partner turned nemesis of our hero, John Matrix, the chubby Aussie Bennett sneers his way through a quasi-paint-by-numbers villain role before exploding into sweaty, goofy, sad awesomeness for the climactic battle.

He also happens to have the best/worst villain outfit ever, some morose leather-daddy getup that includes a heather grey mesh tank top and caterpillar mustache. He’s basically the villain equivalent of Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s character from Boogie Nights, all pent up obsession with Matrix and knife penetration. Nullus. Mesh tank top.

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4. Dr. Emilio Lazardo (The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension!) // John Lithgow

First off, kudos to John Lithgow for almost showing up twice on this list for his work as Qualen in Cliffhanger (another movie I love that people don’t talk about that often anymore). But even that helicopter-wearing baddie couldn’t stand up to the trans-dimensional Dr. Lizardo AKA Red Lectroid Lord John Worfin.

Did that not make any sense at all to you? Good, that means you can still have the immense pleasure of seeing Buckaroo Banzai for the first time in your life. You get to see Lithgow scuttle around making intense animal noises, say stuff like “Shut up John Bigbooty!” all in a vaguely placable accent and with a crazy poof of hair and… just watch the movie okay.

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3. Castor Troy (Face/Off) // Nicolas Cage/John Travolta

Protip: Take your face off. Replace it with another guys face. ????. Profit! At least I assume that’s how the pitch meeting went down for one of the best action movies of all time. John Woo got double the fun by allowing his magnetically evil Castor Troy character be played by not one but two Oscar caliber actors who also happen to be more or less insane.

You don’t get a whole lot of Cage’s Troy, but holy shit does he make the most of it, including a scene with a giant mustache, grabbing fistfulls of a choir girls butt, and getting his tongue sucked. There’s no way that Travolta could live up to that I mean ho- oh is he dancing around whilst disarming a bomb? Romancing his own teenage daughter? Trying to mutilate his own face with a piece of metal whilst simultaneously having a harpoon sticking out of his chest? Thanks guys!

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2. Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg (The Fifth Element) // Gary Oldman

That name. That hair. That accent. That flavor saver. What’s not to love about Zorg? The best part about his campy goofiness is that it’s all intentional on his part, and is really his defining characteristic. He’s a man of precise appearances (what, you just think ‘do is like that when he rolls out of bed?) and perfection, who maintins his power by operating above everyone around him.

People are supposed to be afraid to question him because he is a consummate other, someone who’s actions are supposed to be unpredictable, straddling a line between silly and sinister. His motivations don’t really make sense (what’s he supposed to do after the purge of all humans anyway?) but it doesn’t matter. He’s just an evil sonofabitch with a world class wardrobe.

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1. Howard Payne (Speed) // Dennis Hopper

Full disclosure: the whole impetus for this High Five was the fact that Speed came on the TV last night and I ended up watching the whole thing, reliving how awesome it is and especially how goofily deranged Hopper’s 9-fingered performance is. Thank god for Jan De Bont they got Hopper for this role by the way. The character himself is actually written in a way you could see him bogged down by his past, bitter and sullen at the loss of his thumb or whatever.

But not in 90s era Hopper’s hands, who basically just plays him as a guy who likes to blow shit up, say “Jack” a lot, and make one of the best villain faces ever when a purple dyepak explodes out of a money bag into his face. Keanu tries to keep up charisma wise, but no one can hold a candle to Howard Payne. He is taller though.

White Fence – Family Perfume Vol. 2 (2012) [Woodsist] // Grade: C-

I’m not seeing it folks, the current, seemingly godsend deal with White Fence. Sure, that may be a bit of overstatement, but when the bloggers talk, sirens get wailing. I get the prolific part and the fact that the brainchild of Tim Presley splits his time between multiple bands (The Fall, Strange Boys) and has a rooted history with others (The Nerve Agents, Darker My Love) but as I safely balked at the first volume of Presley’s 29-song, two-album set, Family Perfume, it makes a bit of sense that the continuation of the Bay Area musician’s wobbly DIY project again falls below my mark. Released for the Woodist imprint, Presley’s second offering is, in so many words an easy-moving hunk. It’s unsteady, unfiltered, nonsensical and swirling, but at moments, par-blooms in thinned-out 60s psych pop fuzz and blithe, acoustic, country/folk gazers perfect for the afternoon laze. Smeared in DIY recording character, White Fence channel a slew of retro rangers’ skeletal form but with a lackluster body-painting of weirdo instrument appearances, tape loops, druggy haze and layered multi tracks, Family Perfume Vol. 2, even more so than its predecessor, still comes out incomplete and thin.

A look at some of the set’s 15 songs proves supportive: By the time opener “Groundskeeper Rag (Man’s Man)” gets good, percussion ramping, it just ends, like a stop button at the 1:26, “Be at Home” is a multi-layered, multi-vocal, galactic wander with sloppy, laser sounds and a line about “washing underwear in the sink” and at “Lizard’s First,” Presley’s “What’s the blues without the green” line rules whereas, the coin flips and talk about “potato trees” wafts through. Those blooming moments though, exist as well: “Makers” is a drowsy and cool tale tackling addiction, closer “King of the Decade” has its moments, “Anna” succeeds in its weirdo Leonard Cohen form and though lethargic, “I’d Sing” proves key in its arrival early on. It’s funny then, to mention the fact that through all the wonky, lo-fi noodling White Fence can produce, my early thoughts above land close to where its maker may have anticipated.

In a recent interview with Impose, Presley was asked about his so-far prolific year (there’s White Fence, the Ty Segall collaboration Hair and touring with the Strange Boys if you forgot) and his mounting song output. Responding bluntly, Presley told the outlet: “First, I’m sorry for dumping all that music. But I had to do it. I chopped it down and chopped it down and it’s still really long…But I can see how as a reviewer, both those records, you might be frustrated.” No stranger to his own hustle, as frank a response was not what I expected, though he almost summed it up for me. Presley may have given my ears an unneeded workout of sorts fishing for depth or drooping my eyes more than they needed to be during 1pm listens across White Fence’s vague, cloudy footing, his assumption for frustration is definitely off- the last time I was close to typing near that level of annoyance on these Bloglin pages was the steaming pile of grandiose confusion that was Loutallica’s Lulu and I can assure you, Vol. 2 may be off-the-cuff, long and somewhat oblong, it’s certainly not that bad.

I would ask if you all remember Weed Demon, the Wavves branded game that VICE recently put out featuring baddies designed by Мишка, but because the game tweets out high scores I know that a bunch of you are still playing it. Well, it seems that you all aren’t the only people still loving this Paperboy-gone-druggie adventure.

Wavves was just nominated for an O Music Award for Best Artist/Digital Entrepreneur for Weed Demon. The O Music Awards are MTV’s award show dedicated to the intersect between entertainment and the internet, and it’s now entering its third year. The O Music Awards are totally fan decided, so it’s up to you to go on over here and vote for Wavves/Weed Demon between now and June 27th, when the winners will be announced. While you’re waiting, feel free to play Weed Demon.

Man of the hour El-P recently stopped by our 350 Broadway Store to pick up that fresh jacket (which later made an appearance on national TV), taking a break from what has surely been an insanely busy couple of weeks for him.

After years of seeing him struggle with the various hardships that befell Def Jux, and just the whole ringtone rap era, it’s been – I think for everyone – deeply satisfying watching him get the recognition he deserves.

Especially with a duo of releases as strong as R.A.P. Music with Killer Mike and his own Cancer For Cure, El-P might – improbably enough – just be hitting his stride.

For more, check out our own Zachg’s recent interview with Mr. Meline, and also take a gander at some footage from the recent C4C release party at Santos.

Мишка
350 Broadway
Brooklyn, NY
718-388-1725

J/M/Z to Marcy Ave.
G to Broadway
L to Lorimer

Tonight’s Retard Strength is going to be good and I wouldn’t try to put one over on you. It’s starting off with three bands playing, starting at 8:30 sharp. First there’s Monozid from Germany. Then there’s the Bootblacks playing their premiere show.

Finally there’s YOU. After they’re done around 10pm I’ll be DJing up some rocking’ rollin’ songs with J.R. from Jailbait and Jonathan Toubin from being a famous guy that people love. Also there’s free vodka drinks from 9pm to 10pm so come early for some low cal booze. Here are some photos from last week’s thing.

Thursday May 24th, 2012, 8PM
The Flat
308 Hooper
Brooklyn, NY