This Is Just A Modern Rock Blog

Recorded quickly over two sessions earlier this year, Momofuku is the new album from Elvis Costello and the Imposters, an album that Costello had seemingly dismissed the possibility of, having become disenchanted enough with the record industry that he claimed he was done recording albums. It’s a 12 song set of rock music, not exactly a revisiting of past sounds, as Brutal Youth was, nor is it a summation of his career (I honestly have no idea what that album would sound like). Instead, it’s 47 minutes of a master songwriter and his peers (which here include Jenny Lewis, Johnathan Rice, Dave Sher, Pete Thomas, Steve Nieve and David Hildalgo) simply having a good time in the studio performing some rock and roll, with some of the pop, Americana, blues, cabaret and jazz styles Costello has worked with in recent years thrown in for good measure. Momofuku is a delight, and one of the most purely fun albums Costello has ever released. Standout cuts: “American Gangster Time, “Drum And Bone”,” “Harry Worth” and “Stella Hurt.”

http://www.myspace.com/elviscostello

Second album from Los Angeles based band No Age is a potent mixture of punk, noise rock and pop, and a bit of shoegaze and dream pop, sometimes all mixed into a single song. It took me a few listens to really get a bead on the album as it seemed to run together the first couple of listens, but as it’s only half an hour long, repeat listens were no problem. Once I got a handle on it, I really started to enjoy it and appreciate the switches in style throughout the 12 tracks. There are only two members of No Age, but the impressive wall of sound and noise they throw up sometimes belies that. Nouns is like Guided By Voices, the Pixies and My Bloody Valentine crossed with Sonic Youth at their most dissonant and experimental, and if that sounds good, No Age is the band for you. Standout cuts: “Teen Creeps,” “Cappo,” “Sleeper Hold” and “Brain Burner.”

http://www.myspace.com/nonoage

First of all, if you’re a longtime Speed Racer fan like me, odds are you’re reading this already having seen this movie. Granted this version of the 60’s Japanese animated TV series comes over three decades or so after I really would have appreciated seeing it, but now that it’s here, I have to say, I liked it a lot. It’s best when Speed (Emile Hirsch) is racing the Mach 5, his family’s way-tricked out car, against all variety of wild and exotic adversaries, with names like Snake Oiler and Blackjack Benelli, each with their own way-tricked out cars. He also races against, and then with, the mysterious Racer X (Matthew Fox), and is supported on and off the track by his girlfriend/helicopter pilot Trixie (Christina Ricci), his race car engineer Pops (John Goodman), Mom (Susan Sarandon), younger brother Spritle (Paulie Litt) and mechanic Sparky (Kick Gurry). Chim-Chim, the family’s pet chimpanzee, is also part of the gang, though I have to admit, he was so oddly drawn in the original series that I wasn’t sure what he was; my friend Curt thought he was just some “really weird looking kid.” The movie is perfectly cast for the most part, and the Speed Racer universe, as re-interpreted by writers/directors the Wachowski Brothers, is as laws-of-gravity-and-physics defying, bizarre and colorful in its own way as the TV series and the manga books from which it first sprang. The live actors are almost perfectly integrated into the largely computer generated backgrounds, vehicles and action, so much so that the green screen work that looked so obvious and distracting and just plain fake in other movies is nearly undetectable here, as all the elements onscreen are put together seamlessly. The cinematic world of Speed Racer is a riot of color, richly and freshly imagined with a lot of wit and style, while staying fundamentally true to its sources. The races are thrillingly staged, and they electrified the mostly young audience with which I saw the movie. The movie doesn’t fare as well with the scenes between the races, where the “Speed Vs. the Man (aka the corporate sponsors who are corrupting the race world)” plot gets played out. The scenes in particular where Royalton (Roger Allam) tries to tempt Speed into racing for his evil corporation are the biggest yawns: Not many kids are going to understand, much less care about, underhanded corporate dealings, and certainly not in the terms and at the length in which Royalton goes on about them. Speed’s scenes with his parents also tend to fall flat, but fortunately there’s real spark in the scenes with him and Trixie. The other problem with Speed Racer is that at 135 minutes, it’s almost fatally overlong by at least half an hour. When the movie works, it definitely works, though, and so it’s worth a look, especially for Speed Racer fans, and fans of the Wachowski Brothers, who, after the dud that was The Matrix Revolutions, have produced a flawed, but mostly entertaining and possibly groundbreaking piece of cinema.

MONKEY RATING: TWO MONKEYS

(For a brief explanation of the Monkey Review rating system, click here.)

“Vagina dentata!”

Ambitious, provocative horror/satire from writer/director Mitchell Lichtenstein: Dawn (Jess Weixler) is a popular, if very troubled, high school chastity group speaker for her local church, known for her ability to recruit more student pledges, whose promise to keep their virginity intact is symbolized by a ruby red ring. Compounding her troubles, which include a dying mother and being harassed by a perverse half-brother Brad (John Hensley), she finds herself plagued by sexual urges when she meets a new member of the chastity group, Tobey (Hale Appleman). Then, midway through the movie, she discovers she has a unique defense against male sexual assault, teeth in her vagina (evolutionary adaptation? nuclear power plant mutation?) that react before she can think about it, at first, anyway. The central problem with Teeth is that because it plays it so straight initially, it’s just not very funny for half the running time, which, of course, is not very good for a movie primarily in a comic mode. In other words, it lacks a lot of the bite you would think a movie about a woman with a vagina with teeth would have. That said, the inevitable amputations are staged with the appropriate hysteria and are as gorily explicit as the R-rating will allow (which is quite a lot, really, but then since they’re played mostly for laughs, that may have made a difference). What really holds the movie together is Weixler, whose carefully modulated performance as Dawn never devolves into caricature, despite the movie’s wild shifts in tone. The rest of the cast is also good enough that they mostly carry you through the movie’s flaws. Teeth has some visually dazzling moments going for it as well, and a sequence with Dawn and Tobey going for a swim is particularly well staged. And once it cuts loose, so to speak, it’s got some big laughs, and there’s a low angle shot towards the end that I won’t soon forget. All in all, Teeth is not a total success, but it is worth a look for those who like their horror/comedies to have some depth to them, as well as a rare feminist bent.

MONKEY RATING: TWO MONKEYS

(For a brief explanation of the Monkey Review rating system, click here.)

Inspired by Scott Walker and early David Bowie, the debut album from The Last Shadow Puppets (Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys and Miles Kane of the Liverpool band the Rascals) is an exercise in 1960’s era symphonic rock and pop, and it’s a lot of fun to listen to, as Turner and Kane seem more invested in having a good time as opposed to being overly reverent. Turner’s voice is surprisingly perfectly suited to this style of music, and the songs he and Kane have crafted here unfold on a large canvas, with a full orchestra behind them: The album swings without falling into parody, and it’s dramatic, but stops short of being silly. Though there are a couple of ballads here, the album closer “Time Has Come Again,” most of the album zips by, 12 songs in just under 35 minutes. Good times for groovy people. Standout cuts: “The Age Of Understatement,” “My Mistakes Were Made For You,” “Black Plant” and “In My Room.”

http://www.myspace.com/thelastshadowpuppets

First full length album in four years from mercurial Anton Newcombe and his band with the ever shifting lineup, the Brian Jonestown Massacre, is 78 minutes plus of shoegaze and psychedelic rock, with some experimental touches thrown in the mix here and there. There are acoustic guitars, electric guitar and synthesizer drones, tambourines, random noises, and vocals that are intelligible, and sometimes not, all those elements carefully assembled, and then again, sometimes not, but somehow it all hangs together, anyway. There are songs with deliberately provocative titles: “Bring Me the Head of Paul McCartney on Heather Mill’s Wooden Peg (Dropping Bombs on the White House),” “Who Fucking Pissed In My Well,” “We Are the Niggers of the World” (a rather nice piano instrumental that nevertheless reminded me, the title, anyway, of “Lick My Love Pump” from This Is Spinal Tap) and “Automatic Faggot for the People.” Some might find My Bloody Underground a bit on the self-indulgent side, while longtime fans might appreciate it more. I’m not sure this would be the album to start with if you’re just coming to Newcombe’s music, but I found myself caught up in it, though the ten minute droning instrumental, “Black Hole Symphony,” that closes the album is something I can’t imagine listening to again anytime soon. (It does, however, have a video, so maybe I’m just a square.) Standout cuts: “Bring Me the Head of Paul McCartney on Heather Mill’s Wooden Peg (Dropping Bombs on the White House),” “Yeah-Yeah,” “Golden - Frost” and “Monkey Powder.”

The Brian Jonestown Massacre Official Site

Richard Roeper admitted recently on At The Movies With Ebert And Roeper that he’d taken some heat for declaring Forgetting Sarah Marshall, directed by Nicholas Stoller and written by and starring Jason Segal, “an instant classic” and one of the funniest movies ever made. Having seen it now, I’m not sure I’d be willing to go that far, but it is very funny, and I’d be willing to say it’s definitely one of the funniest movies of the last decade. The plot is a familiar one: Peter, a music composer (Segal) is dumped by his girlfriend Sarah (Kristen Bell), who is also the star of the crime show for which he writes. After failing miserably to get over her, he decides to leave Los Angeles and vacation in Hawaii, only to run into his ex, who is there with her new rock star boyfriend Aldous (Russell Brand). Fortunately, Peter is befriended by Rachel (Mila Kunis), a hotel employee who takes a shine to him. Like all romantic comedies, which this essentially is, there’s a lot of wish fulfillment going on here, as Peter is talented, but also a bit of a average Joe and definitely a slob, yet manages to attract a TV star like Sarah, as well as Rachel, played by Kunis at her most beautiful and appealing. Segal’s character, however, is fortunately sufficiently fleshed out that you understand what attracted both Sarah and Rachel to him, but also why Sarah eventually decided to leave him. It’s not really the sort of depth one associates with this genre, and it’s part of why it’s worth seeing. The main reason to see Forgetting Sarah Marshall is that it’s funny from beginning to end. (It’s also somewhat notorious for its willingness to show full frontal male nudity for a couple seconds at a time, but that notoriety speaks more to the absurd conservatism afflicting our country than the movie’s daring.) The movie’s dialogue is full of quotable one liners, the lead actors are all skilled comic actors, and the supporting cast, which includes Bill Hader, Paul Rudd, Jonah Hill and even Jason Bateman in a brief cameo, is top notch. One of the funniest movies of all time? I don’t know, but definitely a very funny movie.

MONKEY RATING: ONE MONKEY

(For a brief explanation of the Monkey Review rating system, click here.)

Walk It Off, the second album from Minneapolis based band Tapes ‘n Tapes has apparently divided fans between those who see this as a progression, and those who see this as a sophomore slump. I finally got a chance to listen to it myself, and I fall firmly into the former camp. It’s a skilled mix of alt-rock by way of bands like the Pixies, along with some acid, psychedelic and prog rock thrown in for good measure, which makes for a very dynamic and all around pretty terrific rock record. It especially catches on fire with tracks 7 and 8, “Demon Apple” and “Blunt,” but the whole album is worth your listening ear. As soon as I finished listening to it, I immediately started back at track one. Good stuff, and definitely play loud! Standout cuts: “Hang Them All, “Conquest,” “Blunt” and “Anvil.”

http://www.myspace.com/tapesntapes

Rising Down, the new album from Philadelphia based band the Roots, takes its name from William T. Vollmann’s seven volume treatise on violence, Rising Up And Rising Down. (There’s a one volume distillation available, edited by Vollmann himself, for those interested.) The album is a musically stripped down, frequently searing and confrontational look at violence in American society at multiple levels, cultural, political, environmental and societal. It’s hip hop as deliberate political provocation, and it’s one of the best albums I’ve heard from an already legendary American band. What makes Rising Down compelling and often thrilling to listen to is the band’s usual virtuoso musicianship, along with intelligent, witty rhymes. It starts to run out of gas towards the end, ending with one of the album’s weaker tracks, “Rising Up” (the spoken word track that directly follows makes up for it, however), but in general, this is pretty solid, essential stuff. Standout cuts: “Get Busy,” “75 Bars,” “Criminal” and “I Can’t Help It.”

http://www.myspace.com/theroots

To cut right to the chase, Iron Man is one of the best superhero movies ever made, and a lot of the credit is due to Robert Downey Jr.’s standout performance as the title character, also known as Tony Stark, a smug, self-absorbed, obscenely wealthy arms dealer who undergoes a change of heart, following three months of imprisonment by an Islamic militia in present day war-torn Afghanistan. He develops a flying supersuit for himself, and aims to correct of the damage he’s done to the world during his years as “a merchant of death.” The plot’s not really the movie’s strong point, since it basically functions as an origin story and a general introduction to the characters, who are the movie’s strong point: Stark, his trusted assistant Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow), his longtime friend and military liaison Rhodes (Terrence Howard), and his partner in business, Obadiah (Jeff Bridges). You’ll note that the major players are among the finest actors of their respective generations, which grounds the movie in the people the story is about, rather than the special effects they are required to act to or around. Even the special effects, which are very impressive, of course, are designed so that the characters don’t disappear into the shiny flying suits once they put them on: You get numerous shots of their faces as they interact with other characters, a simple, but effective technique, but indicative of the respect director Jon Favreau has for his cast. The only characters who get short shrift, save for Yinsen (nicely played by Shaun Toub) an engineer Stark befriends while in captivity, are the Afghan characters, who are one dimensional and exist mostly to get mowed down. In general, though, Iron Man is a witty, intelligently made, exciting movie made by smart, funny people who don’t assume their target audience necessarily has a low attention span. The finale, which initially struck me as somewhat lackluster, is actually a sign of one of the movie’s virtues: The filmmakers are confident enough in their work that they don’t feel they have to toss the majority of the movie’s budget at you for its big send-off. Instead, it’s a battle between two characters, rather than two pieces of special effects. The real finale is the last line of the movie, anyway. (Though there’s a post-credits sequence that sent some of the audience I saw the movie with into paroxysms of delight.) Iron Man sets the bar high for movies this summer, and it’s one of the best times you’ll have at the movies this year, period.

MONKEY RATING: ONE MONKEY

(For a brief explanation of the Monkey Review rating system, click here.)