So normally I enjoy records where the content is random and has a good sound. Take for instance, bands like Radiohead which experiment with different sounds and lyrics in everyone of their albums to make their sound fresh. Colourmusic is just that… random! This one came as a surprise to me being this band has been out since 2005.
Yet they have only two full length albums and a couple EPs out. Another thing that struck a chord with me was they way they described their music as “hardcore and a little OklahomaSex Rock.” What exactly is Oklahoma Sex Rock? (Insert Oklahoma joke here.) Sorry I’m fresh out of jokes for the state of Oklahoma, especially after they stole the Seattle Supersonics.
This album can be described as mondo-bizzaro meets indie. I can’t really say there is a stand out track on this album as each one goes from decent to really random, to just flat out bizzare. Take for instance the second track off the album “Whitbey Island” is nothing but three minutes of ocean sounds. Another track “The Beast with Two Backs” sounds like stock music you would hear in a campy horror film.
However the rest the album is a breath of fresh air with a grungy sound that you would only hear with a garage rock band. Some of this album would be complimentary to an indie-film soundtrack. I’m not talking about one of those cheesy poorly produced straight to DVD films you see flooded on the new release section at Blockbuster, i’m talking like IFC produced films that make an impact.
The title of this album shows how random this little record is. Colourmusic knows how to keep their fans happy and they did just that with My ____ is Pink. I don’t know if I could put this as one of my favorites of the year, but it could be with time. This is something I would need to let grow one me for a few weeks.
Track Listing:
1. Beard Listen
2. Jill & Jack (A Duet)
3. Feels Good to Wear
4. We Shall Wish (Use Your Adult Voice)
5. You For Leaving Me
6. Tog
7. Dolphins & Unicorns
8. Pororoca
9. The Beast with Two Backs
10. The Little Death (In Five Parts)
11. Fold/Unfold
12. Mono
13. Whitby Harbour
14. Yes!
Forget the overpriced tickets and breaking bank on greasy movie theater popcorn. Taking movie showings into your own hands and host a Private-Public Screening of Efterklang & Vincent Moon‘s collaboration: An Island.
An Island is an unconventional music performance film and an abstract documentary about a band and an island. The running time is 50 minutes. In August 2010, French filmmaker Vincent Moon met with Efterklang’s 8 piece-live band on an island off the Danish coast to make a film of performances, experiments and collaborations. For four days, the band collaborated with more than 200 local musicians, children and their families to create new performances and interpretations of songs from their 2010 release, Magic Chairs.
The film premieres in February and people can now sign up to host their own screenings running anywhere and anytime from February 1 until March 31. And we do mean anywhere – coffee shops, homes, auditoriums, a beach, but you decide.
To host a screening, visit here. For an updated list of showings to attend a screening, visit here.
The rules are:
• The screenings need to have free entrance
• The screenings need to be public.
• The screenings need to have a minimum capacity of 5 people
• The screenings need to be verified by Efterklang & Vincent Moon and only screenings that are featured on www.anisland.cc are official Private-Public Screenings
For anyone who has been a rock n’ roll fan for all their lives, favoring the guitar as their instrument of choice, rocking out on the couch with an air guitar or closely touching stardom as a Guitar Hero, It Might Get Loud offers an exceptional and behind the scenes look at the electric guitar and how it has been held, shaped and molded by three prominent musicians of the past thirty years.
It Might Get Loud is a rock doc showcasing the electric guitar in the hands of Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, U2’s The Edge and The White Stripes/The Raconteurs/Dead Weather’s Jack White, and how each has utilized the instrument to shape the sound of their bands and define the use of the instrument as the centerpiece of rock. The title comes from a moment in the film where The Edge is about to shred some licks, warning us that “it might get loud for a second.”
Oscar winning director Davis Guggenheim does an excellent job in keeping the story far removed from the history of the bands and their prominence in rock lore; i.e. he avoids the sex, drugs, history, the Robert Plants and the Bonos and focuses solely on the three featured musicians and their personal histories with the guitar, what inspired them and how they came to define their respective signature styles.
The film is centered around a small, unscripted summit that takes place on a sound stage in Los Angeles, where The Edge, White and Page three musicians meet together for the first time for a very cool jam session, showcasing their talents and spontaneity, all the while throwing back and forth chatter about how they develop ideas and discussing how they created guitar riffs for some of their classic songs. Each immediately falls into their appropriates space in history: Jimmy Page is clearly the Rock God and the most proficient, the idol to the other two; The Edge takes his spot as the ever creative sideman; and Jack White is the brash young new comer trying to prove himself, evidenced by an early statement of his in the film, “I’m basically going to trick them into teaching me all their tricks.” The doc also branches out into side chapters, focusing on the story of each musician, their beginnings and growth and how they manipulate the guitar to do what they want it to do.
Jimmy Page is the soft-spoken, English gentleman, distinguished and charming in his dialogue and demeanor. He takes us through his beginnings as an extensive and highly coveted studio guitarist, his start in The Yardbirds and finally his development in Led Zeppelin. We are given insight into his self taught hard rock techniques, a tour of his record collection and the sounds that inspired him as he sings a long to some of his favorite songs and air guitars the licks. We are then blessed with a tour of the country house in which the legendary Led Zeppelin IV was recorded followed by an impromptu version of “The Battle of Evermore” on his mandolin.
The Edge takes us back to U2’s roots through a tour of their old school, the room in which they practiced, and the concrete slab outside where they played one of their first shows. We then visit his studio littered with effects electronics, laptops, showing us just how he is truly a sonic effects architect, as Page describes him. He makes a poignant note in the film that is otherwise lacking in the documentary. He plays an incredible U2 anthem riff, and then unplugs everything to show that the actual riff is in fact bare bones, uninspiring and hardly worth note. It highlights exactly how he is able to turn that basic sound into something incredible, which shows why a guitarist himself is responsible for the sound on his instrument.
Jack White’s story takes us back to his Tennessee roots, how he prefers minimalism and despises the use of technology on such an instrument, all the while showing us that you need not more than a piece of wood, some wire, nails and a coke bottle to make an electric guitar. His intensity is displayed in concert footage whereby he strums the hell out of his guitar so hard that his hands bleed, red pouring all over his six string, while he continues to passionately drive the wires till the end of the tune.
The highlight of the film is the summit where the three meet, discuss and play and we note the personalities of all. Page steals the spotlight with his character and ability to play the guitar as an extension of himself, effortless, as if it’s another arm. The Edge is the modest instrumentalist, while White is the most aggressive bundled with the most attitude and urgency to show his worth. A smile inducing moment is that no matter how successful and prolific The Edge and White may be, when Page starts ripping out “Whole Lotta Love”, the other two grin like little boys, awe inspired by the Guitar God they have always idolized.
The film succeeds aesthetically as well, from featuring old concert footage, photos, and amazing close ups of various guitars, at smooth angles and vibrant colors, dents and bruises of love and use, broken strings and shining perspiration. It Might Get Loud is a light and insightful look at the electric guitar from three of it’s greatest handlers, that any rock aficionado or musician alike will take pleasure in.
Watch the trailer:
It Might Get Loud opens tomorrow, Friday, August 14, 2009.
The Achievers (fans of The Big Lebowski) trickled into the 8th Annual Lebowski Fest’s movie night on a humid Friday night in Louisville. Many were dressed in simple Achiever shirts while other, more fervent fans were dressed as characters (or even concepts) from the film. White Russian, beer and food stands lined the outside of the lawn as festival goers set up chairs to enjoy the evenings events including performances by local acts Whistle Peak and Black Diamond Heavies, the comedy of Rob Riggle, an appearance by Philip Moon (who plays Woo the Carpet Pisser in the movie) and, finally, a large outdoor showing of the reason for the festival, The Big Lebowski. The long and narrow lawn gave off the feeling of a company picnic or rather than a festival, but it was the perfect for groups of friends and Lebowski fans due to its more intimate nature.
The crowd mingled and drank as they waited for Whistle Peak to take the stage at 8:30. The five piece included keys, a harmonica and a ukulele in additional to the usual guitar, bass and drums. Keeping true to their Louisville roots, a subtle twang was noticeable in their rock sound that also featured poppy overtones. On the whole, I found Whistle Peak’s sound mellow, inoffensive and fairly easy to ignore – perfect background music for catching with old and making new Achiever friends.
The festival’s creators, Scott Shuffitt and Will Russell, walked around dressed as bowling pins, posing for pictures with other Achievers before introducing Black Diamond Heavies. Black Diamond Heavies, whose drummer Van Campbell hails from Louisville, have a dirty garage rock sound that still manages great melodies in all its grungy greatness. Singer James Leg’s got distinct smoky and gritty vocals similar to Tom Waits’, no doubt due to years of a nicotine habit (he lit up on stage). I’d heard of the duo before, but never realized how awesome they are until they tore up the stage at Lebowski Fest. Several audience members jumped up to dance around to the fast-paced, lively sounds. They really got the crowd amped for their beloved Big Lebowksi when they ended their set with covers of Kenny Rogers’ “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)” and “Man In Me” by Bob Dylan.
Following Black Diamond Heavies, and crashing hard, was comedian and Louisville native Rob Riggle. He made jokes about the TARP and the Detroit auto industry bail out, mens bathrooms at sports stadiums, sell out jokes about a watered down horse piss beer and he trashed Spencer Pratt, recounting fantasies of wanting to murder the realitard celeb. Rob Riggle is not funny. At all. Neither I nor none of the people around me laughed at all. This was the only lowlight of the evening.
Before The Big Lebowski viewing, Philip Moon came out on stage to “piss” on a carpet (he turned his back to the crowd and opened a can of soda, letting the contents spill from near his crotchal region) like his character, Woo, in the film. The crowd got a huge kick out of this and cheered loudly. He then told an anecdote about his scene, in which Jeff Bridges (Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski) asked whether or not the toilet he was about to get his head dunked in had been washed. Directors the Cohen Brothers, totally deadpan, informed Bridges that the crew had all shit in it. This also drew roars from the crowd, but only received about half the applause that a “satellite link” (it was totally pre-recorded) message from Jeff Bridges himself received. Then it was time for The Big Lebowski. Achievers quoted the film, hooting and hollering at key scenes, reveling in all they’ve come to love about the Cohen Brothers’ cult hit.
My only grievance with the Fest is that I wish they’d had compostable cups and plates, or at the very least recycling. Other than that, I had a blast and couldn’t wait for the next day’s documentary, lawn party and bowling party.
This is not a film about music. This is a film about musicians.
Filmmaker Bob Moczydlowsky returns to Kansas City to give 150 people a sneak-peak of his recently finished film entitled 72 Musicians. The fundraiser screening will take place at 6 p.m. this Sunday, July 19th at the Screenland Theatre at 1656 Washington in Kansas City, Missouri. Tickets are $20 and must be purchased in advanced online at www.72musicians.com/download/screenland by noon on the 19th. The money from the screening will go toward further funding their near-nothing-budget-film to travel to various film festivals.
Aside from the fundraising aspect of the screening it serves an additionally unique purpose.
“The idea of the screening is to create an environment where the people who are in the film and featured in the film can see it ahead of time in an environment where it’s just us.” – Bob Moczydlowsky
The screening is open to anyone who purchases a ticket but likely that the theater will be full of those musicians seen in the film and others who were involved.
“My opinion is that this film belongs as much to the people who are in it as much as it belongs to me.” – Moczydlowsky
After the screening everyone is invited out for laughs and drinks the Record Bar where 72 Musicians was filmed two and a half years ago.
72 Musicians consists of one part performance and the other part interview. The majority of the footage for the film came from the OxBlood Showcase in February, 2007 at the Record Bar in Kansas City. The filmmaker and crew filmed the entire two night show and conducted personal interviews with the artists and other local musicians from the Kansas City and Lawrence areas to capture their lives and stories. But viewers will not be able to tell who the artists are or what city they are in when watching the film.
“The film is about musicians, it’s not about music. And it’s about any musician anywhere. It just so happens to be the universal story told by people who live in Kansas City and Lawrence.” -Moczydlowsky
The film had its first showing last Sunday at the Maine International Film Festival in Waterville, Maine.
“We got a very enthusiastic response and a lot of Q and A afterward. They bought us drinks at the bar when the screening was over, so apparently they liked it.” – Moczydlowsky
72 Musicians will be returning to Kansas City in September for the Kansas International Film Festival, so those who do not get a chance to make it to the sneak-peak will have an opportunity to see it then.
Moczydlowsky says that the film will eventually be available for download on their website and a free 12 song soundtrack is available to download now.
Tomorrow, tickets go on sale for Lebowski Fest 2009. What is Lebowski Fest, you may be asking? Only the a phenomenal festival dedicated to one of the greatest movies ever created by The Coen Brothers, The Big Lebowski. Though the Coens themselves have failed to associate themselves from the fest that launched in 2002 thanks to two fellas by the names of Scott and Will, The Dude himself, Jeff Bridges, along with many other cast members, have made appearances at the various Lebowski Fests worldwide.
After having started in Louisville, Kentucky, Lebowski Fest expanded to major cities worldwide including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Las Vegas, Austin, Seattle, London and Edinburgh. Fans of the film,known as “Achievers”, head to the fest, often in costume to drink white Russians, throw a briefcase full of dirty undies, and party with likeminded moveigoers. It’s a two-day party that typically opens with live performances and screening of the film the first night and concludes with a raucous bowling party the following night.
Los Angeles
May 07 – The Wiltern Theater – Movie Party (buy tickets)
May 08 – Cal Bowl – Bowling Party (buy tickets)
To start the tour off right, 2009′s inaugural Lebowski Fest is going down on May 7 and 8 in Los Angeles. Due to a scheduling conflict, Jeff Bridges will not be able to attend, but he was gracious enough to film a video greeting for the Fest and our beloved ‘Achievers’ that will premiere at the Movie Party at The Wiltern. Confirmed attendees thus far include Jeff Dowd (the man who inspired Jeff Bridges’ character, The Dude), as well as actors from the movie, including the two thugs who soiled the Dude’s rug: Philip Moon (“Woo, Treehorn Thugâ€) and Mark Pellegrino (“Blonde Treehorn Thugâ€). Also slated to appear are Jon Polito (“Da Finoâ€), James Hoosier (“Liam O’Brien,†Jesus’ bowling partner), Robin Jones (“Ralph’s checkout girlâ€), and Lu Elrod (“Coffee Shop Waitressâ€). Also performing will be Yuto, the 8-yr-old guitar prodigy, at the Movie Party on the 7th.
Louisville – 8th Annual Lebowski Fest (buy tickets)
Jul 10 – Executive Lawn (ft. “The Daily Show”‘s Rob Riggle) – Movie Party
Jul 11 – Executive Strike and Spare – Garden Party, Bowling Party
The 8th Annual Lebowski Fest Movie Party will feature a stand-up set by “The Daily Show”‘s Rob Riggle, and music sets by the Black Diamond Heavies and, Louisville’s own, Whistle Peak, all followed by a massive outdoor screening of the film. The Lebowski Fest Louisville – Garden Party has also incorporated various reenactments of scenes from the film, art exhibits, and carnival-style games like the Ringer Toss, whereby contestants toss a bag of white undies out the window of a ’72 Plymouth Fury III (dubbed the Lebowski-mobile, naturally), toward a Nihilist dummy target, for prizes. The Marmot Fling (catapulting a stuffed ferret into a small bath tub) and The Sheriff of Malibu Coffee Mug Toss are also ‘Achiever’ favorites.
Seattle (tickets on sale Friday, April 24th)
July 20 - Fremont Outdoor Movies – Movie Party
July 21 – Acme Lanes – Bowling Party
Portland, Or. (tickets on sale Friday, April 24th)
Jul 22 – Aladdin Theater – Movie Party
Jul 23 – Hollywood Bowl – Bowling Party
San Francisco/Oakland (tickets on sale Sunday, April 26th)
July 24 – Classic Bowling Center – Bowling Party
July 25 – Fox Theater – Movie Party
San Diego (tickets on sale Friday, April 24th)
Jul 26 – House of Blues – Movie Party
Jul 27 – Kearny Mesa Bowl – Bowling Party
Las Vegas (tickets on sale Friday, April 24th)
Jul 28 – House of Blues – Movie Party
Jul 29 – Red Rocks Lanes – Bowling Party
Announcement with remaining North American dates and cities forthcoming. Rumor has it, one of those cities might be Philadelphia. Who’s got two thumbs and hopes it happens? This guy editor.
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So normally I enjoy records where the content is random and has a good sound. Take for instance, bands like Radiohead which experiment with different sounds and lyrics in everyone of their albums to make their sound fresh. Colourmusic is just that… random! This one came as a surprise to me being this band has been out since 2005.
