"Reality Check" by The TeenagersThe Teenagers have been an internet phenomenon for a while now, but after listening to their first proper release, Reality Check, it's hard to buy into the hype that has them painted as geniuses. Their formula has them taking the fifteen-year-old bedroom poetry aesthetic of emo, then removing any melody, metaphor, and almost anything else that would actually constitute a song. Somehow, though, the skeletal ideas left in their wake are actually sort of endearing (and catchy)—kind of like the way a toddler's finger paintings are cute, even if they aren't necessarily good. Dorian Dumont and Michael Szpiner, both of whom have an extensive background in France's music scene, helm the band's lo-fi, indie-dance rock. Vocals, however, are handled by Quentin Delafon, and it's no surprise that he's the only band member without a musical background, with his spoken word-sung delivery. The band already has a mega-hit with album opener "Homecoming," a re-written Grease,/i> send-up (updated with
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Published: 2008-03-26
Provider: Artist Direct
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"Cease to Begin" by Band of HorsesThanks to bands with an affinity for the whiskey-soaked Southern rock of yore, the genre is rising again. But this isn't the bayou-loving sound of Creedence Clearwater Revival, Lynyrd Skynyrd or The Allman Brothers Band. Today's Southern rock is more sedate and less likely to become a protest anthem on a college campus. Band of Horses' newest album, Cease to Begin, is a testament to the softer side of the swamp, with its bluesy ballads, lazy banjos and lyrics about swinging screen doors. The opener, "Is There a Ghost," has the same commercial potential as the radio-friendly track "The Funeral" off their 2006 debut, Everything All the Time. Starting off slow and spooky, "Ghost" crescendos into a guitar-shredding rock song that has more in common with today's indie scene than anything CCR ever wrote. But the album's 21st-century aesthetic seems to drop off after the opening number. "Ode to LRC" is an unabashed love letter to Neil Young's
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Published: 2007-10-09
Provider: Artist Direct
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John Woo Presents StrangleholdDVD Reviews: Ironically for a game premised on its association with arguably the world's greatest action director, "John Woo Presents Stranglehold" is a technological marvel and a storytelling dud. Publisher-developer Midway has done an outstanding job of capturing the slow-mo, high-octane aesthetic of a Woo action scene and making it an interactive experience.
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Published: 2007-09-04
Provider: Variety.com
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Grindhouse Interview: Naveen AndrewsNaveen Andrews is best known for his role in The English Patient and for playing Sayid on TV's Lost. He stars in Robert Rodriguez's half of Grindhouse, Planet Terror, opening in theaters this weekend. We recently spoke with Andrews about the making of the film, his preference for Shakespeare over grind house cinema, and ball collecting... Q: What movies did they show you in preparation for this role? Naveen Andrews: Well, we were all subjected to indoctrination and re-education in grind house cinema by Quentin. We had to watch this one film called Zombie that I remember... and then this other one with I think Mia Farrow's sister. They were appalling, I thought. Just drivel. Abysmal films. And for the life of me — I was looking around and I saw Robert and Quentin laughing like maniacs, and I found it amusing for maybe like two minutes. What am I not getting here? I felt embarrassed. Q: You've done some of this Shakespeare stuff, right? Andrews: Some of that Shakespeare stuff, yeah. And to be honest with you, in England we're snobs. Our in-cinema is Pasolini or anything with an 'I" on the end. So it's kind of a jaundiced view of this genre of filmmaking. Yet Robert and Quentin, they can see some kind of aesthetic which I think may have something to do with sort of an obscene kind of humor that's partly schadenfreude and yet in the way children like to be frightened and then suddenly reassured. Maybe that. Q: How difficult was it to develop a character who has more than a passing interest in other men's balls? Andrews: Well, it was the first thing that I sought. We weren't given scripts... we just had this scene with a castration, and, of course, I was intrigued. Then you discover that you can develop a predilection for collecting things. Like children collect marbles. It's the next stage. Like, "Oooh, I'm an adult now. I collect body parts and display them." Trinkets and trophies. Q: So those aren't part of the experiment or the antidote or
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Published: 2007-04-05
Provider: IGN
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