Part 56 - Sufjan Hangover (Take my wife, Take My kid)

On a hot Melbourne night, lots of people packed out Hamer Hall to bask in Sufjan Stevens’s angelic glory. The gig was pretty good. Sounded great - I enjoyed the visuals and just basked in Sufjan’s angelic glory. If believing in God made me like Sufjan (talented etc etc etc), I would be the first on my knees in front of Father Irish, or Pastor Protestant.

After the show finished, I walked down Swanston Street to find the nearest tram stop. The air smelt of Mary-Jane. I decided I wanted to listen to Sufjan and went through my highlights of Come Feel the Illinoise, Seven Swans and All the Delighted People. Highlights, hilarious. Sufjan tracks can last from between 2 minutes to 20.

Listening to the artist whose gig you just disappointedly walked out of ain’t the best of ideas. Much like checking your study notes after you think you did particularly bad on an exam, listening to the produced, meticulously crafted recording can ruin an already ordinary experience. You hear what they didn’t play, the little nuances live recordings forget about or gloss over.

(Of course, the live show can do things a studio album never can. It can make you fall (more) in love, it can make you passionate. It can exhaust you and thrill you and make you come over and over.)

Why mention this? I already said how good the show was? A third question to round it off?

His encore sucked. He came out and performed songs from Come Feel The Illinoise (see below). He played them after he said he wouldn’t be playing any old stuff. I respected that decision he made. Sure, I wanted so badly to hear, the solo from Sister, and to rock back and forth to the amazing Djohariah, but he said he wouldn’t be playing any old stuff.

But he did. He tacked them on. That’s how it felt. No visuals either, no lighting show, just music. Normally, this would be fucking awesome. But not that night. He confirmed his intention behind the encore in an interview on Pitchfork. Just to make so the audience wouldn’t feel ripped off.

That’s crap. An artist can play any song they like. Sure, you want to hear the stuff you know. I won’t deny that, I will never deny that. But don’t treat us like fucking morons. He played dispassionately, without passion. The encore was a bone he felt he had to throw. It lacked passion yo (threes, I love threes). The album versions of the encore tracks are so wonderful, so pretty. Dare I say it, they are beautiful. The live versions went through the motions with pretty girls and flouro sticky tape.

It’s hard writing this because I do love Sufjan so much. He can have my first baby girl. He can have her mum too. That’s how much I love Sufjan.

The tram ride home was fun. I love tram or train rides at night, especially if you have had a few or I get to hang with Mary-Jane. She’s great. The darkness, the music.

Encore: Concerning the UFO sighting near Highland, IL, John Wayne Gacy, Jr. and Chicago

Part 55 - Great Opening Lines

Woo hoo.

I am slightly obsessed with great opening lines. Tremendous opening lines. Grand statements, or subtle observations. The absurd, the incredible and sometimes, the fucking bizarre.The great opening film lies are obvious. Godfather Part 1 (“I believe in America...”), Manhattan (“Chapter One. He adored New York City. He idolized…”), Goodfellas (“I always wanted to be a gangster...”) and so on. The list is rather endless. Fight Club (“People are always asking me if I know Tyler Durden.”).

In literature, my favourite opening lines include “Call me Ishmael” by Herman Melville in Moby Dick (even though I hated the book) and Salinger’s “If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like….” starts The Catcher In The Rye. I also love Virginia Woolf’s “Mrs Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself” in Mrs. Dalloway and the opening line of the Prologue for The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, “Whan that aprille, with hise shoures soote, The droghte of March hath perced to the roote.”

This list could also run forever. My favourite of all time is “I first met Dean Moriaty after my first wife and I split up” by Jack Kerouac (original publishing of On the Road, not re-released manuscript edition of 2006). I am not exaggerating, this line has held me in its intoxicating depth and scope since the very first time I read it.

It doesn’t work so well in music I think, the amazing opening line. Well, it does, but in a different way. If a film is a book and a book a film, then an album is a film is a book to a film is an album. You see?

Instead of opening lines, you have opening tracks.

I can’t be bothered giving you the ones you read in every rock magazine ever You know, Beatles, the Stones, Radiohead or SunnO))). Here are some not so obvious ones, and Guns N’ Roses.

From Sufjan Stevens (All the Delighted People) to the Wu-Tang Clan (Bring da Ruckus) to Cannonball Aderely (the fucking genius Autumn Leaves). Also love Welcome to the Jungle by Guns N’ Roses and Dragonaut by Sleep. Oh, and Prayer to God by Shellac is brilliant! These songs tell you what you are getting.

They say, Sit back little man/woman, and get ready for a ride. A brilliant opening track, can make or break an album in my book. Nico’s The Fairest of the Seaons! What a song! Slayer’s Angel of Death (Fuck yeah!).

All time favourite opening track is Neighborhood # 1 (Tunnels) by the Arcade Fire. Love it so much.

I think I can go deeper on this.

Maybe it’s due to a short attention span ( I blame the internet, and TV and schooling and the devil’s music) that I look for greatness in track Ones. In all honesty, if it hadn’t had been for Neighborhood # 1 (Tunnels) by the Arcade Fire, I may have never finished Funeral.

(Oh shit, maybe I actually DO take a great deal of stock in first impressions. Maybe first impressions mean a lot and everything!)

NO. I always thought I was better than that. Better than that.

Shallow.

My own words. My own argument and the conclusion is Shallow. Bested by my brilliant and supreme logic.

I’m shallow.

Shallow. Fuck.

If only “Shallow” was a cool Yiddish word for strangulation or “hey that girl with the glasses is really cute”. If only.

Crap Samples and Filtered R&B - Pink Friday my Nicki Minaj

I was really looking forward to this album. Having recently been re-bitten by the hip-hop bug (Kanye mixtapes, G.O.O.D downloads, KiD CuDi, Pharoahe Monch and Jean Grae), and I was hoping that Minaj’s album would continue that positive, ear-inspiring vibe.

It hasn’t. Pink Friday opens well, and then picks up a notch with Eminem ripping some wicked, very Slim Shady-esque rhymes and flow on Roman’s Revenge. The following Did It On’ em is also a very decent song before the album heads into the huge, vast and unmoving ocean of “run of the mill”. Tracks featuring Rhinna and Drake are awful, but not as awful as the ridiculous Check it Out featuring will.i.am. (They sample Video Killed the Radio Star on this, and it doesn’t work and sounds completely fucked).

Even Kanye’s steady hand on Blazin’ does little to improve the overall experience. Minaj’s raps on this track are more interesting, but the songs suffers from a pointless Simple Red sample which is just awkward.

At times, this album reminded me of early Missy Elliot albums, the one’s that were okay, before her and Timberland hit their creative peaks in 2002’s Under Construction (..”put my game down, flip it and reverse it”). Sure, Missy had time to develop her style etc blah blah blah, but the industry has changed since then (please refer to any previous articles you’ve read somewhere about My Space and mix tapes and being able to get your work out there even though you don’t have a label backing you blah blah blah).

Maybe my expectations were too high after hearing her OWN Kanye and Jay-Z on Monster. This is my fault really. But maybe she wanted to produce something that could be dubbed as mediocre? Because that’s what Minaj delivers. There are a few highs, but these are only highs because the lows are so low. Pink Friday actually finishes well, but by that stage I had stopped caring. In the end, this album is pussy. It’ safe. It is a safe, chart pleasing R&B album. But even worse than this, it is a boring chart pleasing R&B album.

Did you Have Fun Tonight Melbourne - Metallica 20/11/2010

“Did you have fun tonight Melbourne?”

Metallica, Rod Laver Arena (20/11/10)

As per Metallica tradition, Ecstasy of Gold by Ennio Morricone played through the loud speakers as Metallica ran onto the stage (flanked by their security guards) to a huge roar from the restless crowd (who participated in a seemingly never ending series of jovial Mexican waves not minutes before). Lasers, yes lasers lit up the opening track. There was a great energy buzzing around Rod Laver, and the band felt it too.

They sounded great, and really spot on. Sanitarium (Welcome Home) was the best received of the opening few songs. Track selection was surprisingly heavy from their 5^th studio album, Metallica, with the highlights being a killer version of Sad but True and of course the crowd favourite and brilliantly played, Enter Sandman (this was preceded by a passionate version of Nothing Else Matters)

More on track selections. There were quite of few tracks from Death Magnetic (a little to the crowd’s displeasure at some points, which is a shame because it’s a great album) played between the more obvious choices such as Master of Puppets, One and Ride the Lighting. My personal favourite was the bass heavy The Outlaw Torn, taken from the 1996’s Load, which I never intend to listen to for obvious reasons. Trujillo’s bass sounded ever so good during that song – which crescendo-ed into a very thrashy ending, differing from the original.

A little about the overall show. Metallica are professionals, first and foremost. They clearly put a huge amount of time and money into their stage show which included floating metal coffins (a la Death Magnetic cover), lights, lights and more lights. The stage was a large black rectangle, with 8 microphones placed at clear intervals (imagine the pockets in a pool table) so that Hetfield could sing to all of us. In fact, the entire band worked every corner and every space and every audience member, even Lars Ulrich’s drum kit sat atop of rotating platform so he could also get involved with the entire stadium. It was a treat to watch a band as huge as Metallic get everyone so involved with their fans. Hetfield claimed very early on that the band were in a very good mood that night and that was clearly evident in his performance and they way he worked the crowd.

A little more on tracks. They thrashed out a cover of Queen’s (yes, Queen!) Stone Cold Crazy for the encore, and of course, finished the show with anthem-esque Seek & Destroy.

It was truly a ridiculously fun spectacle. Hetfield apologised for smiling at one point – he was genuinely having a fucking ball. Even if you didn’t like thrash or metal, you would have enjoyed this show. It was actually refreshing. The guys on stage were so different to the ones you saw in the film Some Kind of Monster.

The houselights came on and all band members basically stood on stage for approximately 5 minutes and basked in the glory they had created. We were all thanked, again and again by each band member as they thew guitar pics into the stage and kicked black, Metallica beach balls back into the crowd.

A great night of good old fashioned heavy metal.

Props must also go to Metallica for bringing out Baroness with them. I would think this band is mostly unknown over here, and their sludgy approach to metal differs somewhat from Metallica’s. Good on Metallica for supporting smaller bands. Baroness were in Australia earlier this year with Isis, but suffered a little from a shit sounding P.A at the Corner Hotel (although Isis sounded amazing). Definitely check out Baroness if you can. Lamb of God also entertained the audience with their very loud set.

Notes

Restless audience, Mexican waves. Crowd eploeded when band finally appeared, but not in a bad way

“in a good mood” hetfield said. Opening track had lazers. Hetfleid said they played songs they don’t normally play.

Santituariam went off,

Crazy stuff, betrayal

Stage was awesome, mics everywhere like on a pool table, so whole crowd was worked and involed.

Hetfield in a great mood

Sad but true – opening bars so heavy, the bass solo was sic.

Only hardcore fans got into the Death Magnetic tracks.

“The outlaw tornw as amazing. Never heard the track before, and it really stood out from others. A slow, grindy metal track – not appreciated much by crowd. Band standing together, around lars. , like a jam session. Crescendoed in to a fast and frenetic finish.

The One. Which went off. Master followed up (everyone mouth the first solo, which sounded awesome)

Blond bitch

Enter sandman killed it. Absolutely went down like a treat

Encore

A cover of a queen track. James playing around with the crowd. Seek and destroy, as usual. After show, basked in the approval and praise of audience, bowing, waving and throwing out pics. They n

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The Ecstasy of Gold Play Video

(Ennio Morricone cover)

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That Was Just Your Life Play Video

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Cyanide Play Video

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Ride The Lightning Play Video

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Through The Never Play Video

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Welcome Home (Sanitarium) Play Video

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The God That Failed Play Video

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My Apocalypse Play Video

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Sad But True Play Video

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No Leaf Clover Play Video

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The Outlaw Torn Play Video

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One Play Video

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Master Of Puppets Play Video

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Dyers Eve Play Video

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Nothing Else Matters Play Video

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Enter Sandman Play Video

# Encore:

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Stone Cold Crazy Play Video

(Queen cover) (with snippet of Suicide & Redemption)

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Phantom Lord Play Video

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Seek & Destroy Play Video

Review: Kick Ass

I had not seen the trailer, now did I know anything at all about Matthew Vaughn’s latest flick. Needless to say, I enjoyed every single minute of it.

The film narrates the story of a young comic book fan who is sick of being weak and getting mugged and decides to make something of himself, to become a super hero. After a failed attempt, he tries again and becomes the hero: Kick Ass. Oh, then there is the sub plot of revenge seeking ex-cop and his killer 11 year old daughter who absolutely tear through, with exacting severity, the bad guys, one at a time.

Unlike the tale of most super heroes (even Batman), Kick-Ass’ predicament is closer to our realities (It reminds me of listening to Kanye West’s College Dropout, which reached such a large audience due to fact that most people could relate to him. He was not a gun toting, hip, gangster wannabe but a guy who dropped out of college and wanted to pursue a dream, and had to work so hard for it). What really got hooked me was the sad realisation you experience while watching this film. Kick Ass attempts to stop 3 men beating another senseless in one scene. After he receives a thorough arse kicking, one of the men ask him why he is protecting someone he doesn’t know.

He points to the store behind the men (you can see 5 or so people watching the violence and doing nothing about it. Some are filming it on their phones). He answers the man’s simple, logical question: I’m doing this because people are all to happy to let this happen to someone else, someone they don’t know.

(Maybe we are scared – we don’t want to intervene because we fear for our lives. Or maybe we are frozen on the spot, and don’t know what to do.)

I felt that there was a brilliant sadness and reality to this film. However, Vaughn manages to mix in, and rather superbly may I say, Tarantino-esque action (extreme, distorted violence). Each real moment, each heartfelt moment is countered with a bit of ultra-violence or jaw dropping action. This doesn’t take away from the film however. We are sitting there to be entertained, and that’s what happens.

The cast are all fantastic, and hilarious. A special hand goes to Chloe Moretz for being a tough, serious little actor. Some people have mentioned that it is awful to have such young girl saying some fairly serious swear words and killing people, but they need to grow up. It is art. Art pushes boundaries, and if that bothers you, then good.

There are worse things in the world then an 11 year old girl saying “cunt”.

Part 54 - Clash of the Titans

I had no expectations, so I had very little to be unhappy about during this film. Louis Leterrier’s film really couldn’t go wrong. The story was written before people wrote stories, and is so grand and complex, that even a superficial re-telling is adequate.

I experienced the 2D version of this and was thankful for it. A friend felt the 3D version was too chaotic, with things being bombarded at you all the time. As we have learned with Pixar’s Up and then James Cameron’s Avatar, 3D is a much better and richer experience if it’s not forced on you, not rammed down your throat. Surely the days of arrows and rocks hurtling at you are over.

But back to the film. The acting style employed was Over-the-Top, but it was fine. The film was fun and didn’t pretend to be too serious. Liam Neelson has demonstrated his complete and utter contempt for acting in a ridiculously flat, re-hashed performance. This was hilarious.

So, sure, it sucked, but for some cheaps laugh, okay special affects and popcorn, go see it. Or maybe just play God of War

Part 52 – Washington and Animals

It was warm night, an even before the band room at the Toff was full, the air was stuffy, and a little lethargic. Credit card, arm stamped, bar for beer.

Rat Vs. Possum. A terribly bad name. They opened with a (mostly) keyboard, drone/noise with drums intro to their first track. The build up was pretty good, and probably would have been a lot better if the sound techs had done a better job. After the indulgent 2 or 3 minutes, the track kicked in. It was fun. Really fun. Their songs sounded like Animal Collective/Octopus Project sounding, synth infused, poppy yet slightly inaccessible art-wank songs. Things heated up when the played a (more) melodic cover of My Disco’s You Came To Me Like A Cancer Lain Dormant Until It Blossomed Like A Rose, which I love.

The audience however, were not interested, and sat in a dormant like state until the very last song, when they decide to rise on their haunches in anticipation for the main act.

Washington emerged from the curtains with her band and very quickly leapt into her music. Her songs were mostly catchy, poppy and sweet, and were enjoyable. Most songs however were backed up my her band – their music was boring. It felt like they had to write in the ‘band music’ to add a more poppy, friendly feel to her music (possibly). It didn’t work. I am not critising the band, they were fine, but it didn’t work. It was dull and predictable.

The best part of her show was at the end of another guitar-boring song where she finished by slowly moving away from the microphone as she repeated the last line again and again and again. In this 20 seconds, we got to experience her wonderful vocal range without the encumbrance of a loud, boring band. I am not crapping on the members of the band either – the “band” music was just dull, boring and so predictable.

Washington did not have enough material for a whole show. So much of the second half’s songs were carbon copies of each other. Overall, her gig was disappointing. She seemed to be enjoying herself, which was nice, but the show was, at best, mostly dull.

The show changed at the half way point however. It seems that she doesn’t have enough good material to play a full gig. Most of the songs in the second half felt like fillers, and the band was not working in her favour.
Overall, Washington was disappointing.