march, by the numbers

Top 5 albums released in March:
1. Panda Bear – Person Pitch (best record of the year, bar none)
2. Glenn Jones – Against Which the Sea
3. Earth – Hibernaculum
4. El-P – I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead
5. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible

Top (only) 10 films seen in March:
1. The Color of Pommegranates – 92
2. El Topo – 84
3. Damnation – 80
4. The Long Goodbye – 80
5. Shortbus – 79
6. Barcelona – 77
7. Stranger Than Fiction – 68
8. Fast Food Nation – 52
9. For Your Consideration – 38
10.Let’s Go To Prison – 35

Fight of the Month: lots of good matches this month, but the best fight was Juan Manuel Marquez’s controversial decision over Marco Antonio Barrera. just a 12 round slugfest. the best performance of the month belongs to Mikkel Kessler, who systematically destroyed previously undefeated Librado Andrade en route to a unanimous 120-108 card. Klitschko dominated Austin in a joke of a fight, and Allan Green ducked and ran from Edison Miranda until the final bell. Miranda v. Pavlik on the horizon looks like a good one. Miguel Cotto looked good TKOing Oktay Urkal as well.

Show of the Month: Explosions in the Sky w/ Eluvium @ The Alcazar in St. Augustine. TV on the Radio w/ Subtle at the Roseland in Portland was awesome, but this show just really hit the spot.

Best TV of the Month: the Battlestar and Rome finales we’re top notch, and a debut award goes to The Andy Barker Show, which looks pretty promising.

Coming up in April we have good releases from Stars of the Lid, Bill Callahan, Avey Tare & Kria Brekken and Basia Bulat, as well as stuff I haven’t heard from Islaja and a short EP by Joanna Newsom. Movies coming up are Blades of Glory (today), Grindhouse, ATHF and Hot Fuzz…and don’t forget Jodorowsky’s Holy Mountain tonight and Saturday at San Marco Theater. not a great boxing month though Calzaghe on HBO is a good draw. Pacquiao fights on PPV and the giant Valuev defends his title. catch it on youtube later cause the guy’s never on american TV. speaking of TV, we have the return of Entourage and the Sopranos coming as well. I don’t have any shows set up for the coming month so it’ll likely be a local show here or there and that’s about it. I have a few more albums to append the prior months’ tops lists from previously unknown bands Zodiacs, Knives ov Resistance and Wraiths…but perhaps i will save those for an MP3 post when i get some time. have a good April, mates.

concert season ‘06:::explosions+eluvium+monitor @ the alcazar

you know that feeling of euphoria you get after leaving a really great rock show? well i had that feeling last night. i was already pretty stoked to see both explosions in the sky and eluvium, but the show was far better than i expected, partly due to the venue, which was fantastic (but i will espouse more on that later), the crowd response (which never fails to be much better in st. augustine than in jacksonville – stop trying to be so cool jaxies), and to the rare occurrence of fully enjoying all three bands.

monitor, who i unfortunately have no pictures of, were a pleasant surprise. having never heard the band i was unsure what to expect, but they played some good melodic post rockish stuff and were overall pretty impressive. i’d check them out again for sure.

then came eluvium, a one man ambient rock show out of portland (which coincidentally the jesus will be visiting in approximately 4 days!) who i’ve been playing to death lately, and was thus very intrigued for the live show. he was set up with a guitar, an organ, a laptop and what presumably was a sampler of sorts used for looping. i have about two minutes of video that i’ll post later, but here’s a pic in the meantime:

i personally thought the performance was phenomenal. it’s always a bit awkward translating ambient music to a live setting (especially when performed by only one musician) but his set was great and i recognized tracks spanning the top notch eluvium catalog. you don’t often get a chance to see this genre of rock live ’round these parts much so it was a treat for me.

there was an amp problem with explosions that made bleak the expectations of even getting the show started, much less of it being great…but after about 10 minutes of prayer the miracle occurred and the set began. i’ll start by saying this band is incredibly tight…playing near flawlessly to their recordings. live, their music is like tidal waves slowly rising into the night sky and crashing with reckless abandon onto your face. all i can say is it was hotdamntastic. and for those of you who don’t like post rock anymore because it’s not en vouge in 2007 i have only one thing to say:

suck it.

as with the hoof show, we still haven’t quite mastered the new camera, so most of the pictures suck…but here’s one anyway…

so, in a nutshell, if you missed it, you MISSED it. back on the subject of the venue…i pray that the St. John’s Cultural Council holds (and that the Lightner allows) more shows here because it was a really awesome place. the hall is gorgeous, there’s plenty of room to move, and even, surprisingly, had really good acoustics. so do it up, St. Aug…keep the shows coming. do the vid below, chums…

:::february: by the numbers:::

TOP 5 ALBUMS RELEASED IN FEBRUARY, 2007:

1. Explosions in the Sky – All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone
2. Marissa Nadler – Songs III: Bird on the Water
3. Eluvium – Copia
4. Do Make Say Think – You, You’re a History in Rust
5. Besnard Lakes – The Besnard Lakes are the Dark Horse

TOP 10 FILMS I SAW (for the first time) IN FEBRUARY, 2007:

1. The Departed (2006) – 90
2. The Science of Sleep (2006) – 87
3. The Prestige (2006) – 80
4. Reno 911!: Miami (2007) – 80
5. Half Nelson (2006) – 78
6. Dead Ringers (1988) – 78
7. Midnight Cowboy (1969) – 77
8. Lessons of Darkness (1995) – 77
9. L’Enfant (2006) – 75
10.Jesus Camp (2006) – 74

CONCERT OF THE MONTH: Deerhoof @ Jack Rabbits, 2/16

FIGHT OF THE MONTH: No real spectacular fights this month (except Adamek/Dawson which i didn’t get to see – curse you Showtime!) so i’ll give it to Andre Berto’s first round TKO of Norberto Bravo…keep an eye out for this kid as he’s a smaller, smarter Tyson.

looking ahead to March, we have releases from Panda Bear, El-P, Arcade Fire, Stars of the Lid, Basia Bulat and Islaja among others, and i will unequivocably state that the Panda Bear release is atop my best of 2007 list to date. as far as film goes, we have releases of Zodiac, Black Snake Moan, 300, Sunshine, Blades of Glory, Rescue Dawn and limited releases of Wild Tigers I Have Known, The Wind That Shakes the Barley and After the Wedding…DVDs i will see? Let’s Go to Prison (what can i say? Odenkirk and Arnett, man), Fast Food Nation and Shortbus…the wife and i are taking a trip to Portland, where we will see TV on the Radio at the Roseland Theater, just a couple of weeks after taking in Band of Horses at Cafe Eleven and Explosions in the Sky/Eluvium at Hotel Alcazar…throw all that in with an HBO card featuring Miguel Cotto, Edison Miranda and Allan Green (3 of the most exciting boxers around), a Klitschko fight, and my fourth anniversary and you have a month that is truly one to behold. dare i say it? best….month….ever

milk man

the man, the king, the ‘hoof…

So Deerhoof was last night, and Deerhoof was phenomenomenomal. This time was actually even better than the first time I saw them. a truly wondermous start to what i have termed “the concert season” of 2007. we just bought a new camera and were slack in learning how to use it so most of our pictures are that typical hipster blur ala:

but we managed to get a somewhat decent video of “milk man” which i will paste as soon as the wife and i can get it loaded to youtube, which has not been easy this morning…if you’ve never seen Deerhoof and you’re reading this, do yourself a favor and go see them whenever you can. they’re definitely one of the most fun live shows you’ll see and the pinnacle of a tight, cohesive unit that can spazz out and fall right back into cadence. even if you’re not a fan of their music, go see them live…you will more than likely leave a fan. next up? should be Red Sparowes back at Jack Rabbits on 2/28 with David Pajo’s metal band Dead Child and local favs Chinese Horses opening.

nineteen hundred and ninety-eight.

1998…i was 19, fresh out of the mailroom and into the vaunted “shipping department” at Alltel. I lived in the top floor of a duplex in Riverside which I lovingly refer to as Haute El Roache…again, i was still listening to hip hop and dj crap…favorites back then would include Aceyalone’s A Book of Human Language or UNKLE’s Psyence Fiction…but since we are now primarily a rock driven organism, we must annoint the album of the year for 1998 to what is truly one of the greatest achievements in rock history….Neutral Milk Hotel, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea…i can’t think off the top of my head of a better album to come out since.

the next ten is an amalgam of wonderful tones…at 10, Japanese doomers Boris with a lesser effort, but nontheless a good one, Amplifier Worship…at 9, Glaswegian avant folkster Richard Youngs, with perhaps his best effort, Sapphie…at 8, heavy postrock psychsters Yume Bitsu with their dreamy debut, Giant Surface Music Falling to Earth Like Jewels…in at 7 is the Fahey-esque stylings of Thrill Jockey dreamteam Pullman, with Turnstyles & Junkpiles…at 6 is a fellow i’ve never until recently appreciated, Current 93’s melancholy Soft Black Stars…# 5 is the nearly-always-present-on-this-list Birchville Cat Motel with there magnificently dronetastic Siberian Earth Curve…at 4 is another band i am regrettably very new to and another band of Thrill Jockey all-stars, Gastr del Sol with their unbelievably good Camoufleur…3rd place goes to the mighty mighty Boredoms for their arguably best (maybe 2nd best) album, Super Ae…a tough placement at #2 is Canadian postrock gigantors Godspeed You! Black Emporer with their phenomenal F#A# Infinity (i don’t know how to make that little symbol thing)…and the next best thing to be released in 98…brilliant New Zealander Alastair Galbraith’s unbelievable Mirrorwork…a great year at the top, a lesser year from the rest. i know you’ll all have alot of qualms with not having several albums on the list, but honestly there was alot of “indiepopular” albums by bands i just plain don’t care for in 98.

on to film…we’ll do a top 15 here…15…Woody Allen’s horribly underratedCelebrity…14…Lars Von Trier’s The Idiots…13…Todd Solondz’s best film, the gross out masterpiece Happiness…12…always pushing the boundaries of docu-storytelling, Werner Herzog’s Little Dieter Needs to Fly…11…a lesser Malick effort that still = a greater than everyone else effort, The Thin Red Line…10…possibly the best non-LVT Dogme film, Thomas Vinterberg’s The Celebration (Festen)…9…extraordinary self-lover Vincent Gallo’s Buffalo 66…8…Woody again, this time with the also underrated Deconstructing Harry…7…one of my favorite Japanese filmmakers, Shinya Tsukamoto with Bullet Ballet…6…masterpiece or not, i’m STILL glued to the screen by David Fincher’s The Game…5…Coen Brother’s funniest comedy and bible of bowling fans everywhere, The Big Lebowski…4…perhaps the truest adaptation of a near-unadaptable novel ever, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas…3…the unfortunately unseen by nearly all sole feature by cinematography god Christopher Doyle, Away With Words…2…still his best film and a revelation in indie film and comedy, Wes Anderson’s Rushmore…and 1…Darren Aronofsky’s nerd on speed hyperextravaganza, Pi, a film that actually managed to pique my interest in math and kabballah and chaos theory…discuss amongst yourselves.

As far as TV, it wasn’t a spectacular year for debuts, however my wife will definitely argue that Sex and the City arriving was a monumental, epic event. i would not agree. i’ll pick Will & Grace, which the gay man in me (pun intended) gets an occassional chuckle from. like i said, not a spectacular year for TV. and Glamorama was my favorite book of 1998. speak, dear reader, of your 1998 loves and digressions.

that was so ten years ago…

1997…i was fresh out of high school and in my first year of working at alltel (where i still work, only we’re now fidelity)…i was pretty much into hip hop/dj stuff and just starting to collect records…i guess you could say 1997 was where my journey into the world of rock music really began. so let’s venture back in time to 1997 and talk about the best albums and films of that year…what do you say? join me.

i will go on record to state that all you listmakers are wrong. i know you ALL have OK Computer heftily atop your “best of 1997″ lists, but you’re just plain wrong. yes, it’s a great album…yes, it’s an achievement Radiohead never has and never will again touch…it’s just not the best of that year. that honor goes to the venerable Mogwai, for their unfucwitable Young Team…you’re better off just not arguing, it’s fact man.

landing in the “next best of” category i would list Pavement’s Brighten the Corners, Yo La Tengo’s I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One, and Company Flow’s Funcrusher Plus to round out the Top 5. hafta admit in 97 Funcrusher was where it was at for me.

in the next tier, the rest of the Top 10, i’d include the John Fahey/Cul de Sac collaboration The Epiphany of Glenn Jones as well as Fahey’s Womblife, which are both wondermous. i’d throw in Flying Saucer Attack’s New Lands, Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso UFO self titled album, and Polvo’s Shapes….

the next ten runner ups would include Aesop Rock’s Music For Earthworms, Mountain Goats Full Force Galesburg, Birchville Cat Motel s/t, Bardo Pond Lapsed, Smog Red Apple Falls, Stars of the Lid The Ballasted Orchestra, Apples in Stereo Tone Soul Evolution, The Sea and Cake The Fawn and Aerial M As Performed By…please, dear reader, do tell me your opinion…perhaps i’ll find a new album to love.

on to the films of 97…actually a very good year for film in general, but Asian film in particular. i’ll count the top 15 down backwards…15. Errol Morris’ Fast, Cheap and Out of Control, 14. Abbas Kiarostami’s hallmark of Middle Eastern Cinema, Taste of Cherry, 13. an early Takashi Miike effort, Rainy Dog, 12. the always brilliantly acted and scripted Mike Leigh, Career Girls, 11. Thai master Ming Liang Tsai’s The River, 10. the rare Hollywood entry in a jesus list, LA Confidential, 9. PTA’s Boogie Nights, 8. Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s sevenish thriller, Cure, 7. Atom Egoyan’s best film, The Sweet Hereafter, 6. the ever great Beat Takeshi’s Fireworks, 5. Noah Baumbach’s hideously underrated Mr. Jealousy, 4. late 90s indie god Harmony Korine’s Gummo, 3. Shinya Tsukamoto’s Tokyo Fist, 2. a subject of some division amongst Lynch fans, but one of my favorites, Lost Highway and the best film of 1997, Wong Kar-wai’s heartwrenchingly beautiful Happy Together

the best TV show to debut in 97 was without a doubt HBO’s Oz…the best book i read was Kurt Vonnegut’s Timequake, and on a sad note, we all said goodbye to Allen Ginsburg, William S. Burroughs, Toshiro Mifune and Marco Ferreri among many others. what was 1997 for you, sirs and madams?

January:::by the numbers

TOP 10 ALBUMS RELEASED IN JANUARY, 2007:

1. Deerhoof – Friend Opportunity
2. Animal Collective – People EP
3. Maher Shalal Hash Baz – L’Autre Cap
4. Ignatz – II
5. The Shins – Wincing the Night Away
6. Alasdair Roberts – The Amber Gatherers
7. Ghost – In Stormy Nights
8. Beirut – Lon Gisland EP
9. Deerhunter – Cryptograms
10.Six Parts Seven – Casually Smashed to Pieces

TOP 10 FILMS I SAW (for the first time) IN JANUARY, 2007:

1. Children of Men (2006) – 96
2. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) – 80
3. Pusher (1996) – 77
4. Cache (2005) – 75
5. Three Times (2005) – 75
6. A Scanner Darkly (2006) – 74
7. Mona Lisa (1986) – 74
8. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2006) – 72
9. Lady Vengeance (2005) – 70
10.V For Vendetta (2006) – 65

CONCERT OF THE MONTH: I only went to one, local or otherwise, so the award goes to Blood Mtn, Rachel & Logan, Steel Oatmeal and Witches in the Trees @ Yesterdays.

FIGHT OF THE MONTH: Jose Luis Castillo vs. Herman Ngoudjo…hard choice as I really enjoyed Kelly Pavlik’s performance on HBO this past week, but this was definitely a hard fought war that I actualy thought Ngoudjo could have won.

looking ahead to February, we have releases you can expect on the jesus list from Explosions in the Sky, Marissa Nadler, Do Make Say Think, Eluvium and Shining…of course the Reno 911 movie…dvd releases of Science of Sleep, The Departed, Half Nelson, Mutual Appreciation, The Prestige, For Your Consideration, Tideland, Tenacious D and Stranger Than Fiction, all of which i’ll be checking out…the Deerhoof show, Red Sparowes/Dead Child and another Blood Mtn show already on the docket…and a good boxing month with Adamek v. Dawson, and returns to the ring for Sugar Shane and Hasim Rahman. look out for it all and have a tremendous Feb.

:::the week in film:::

sorry for the slow site this past week, promise to update with some new treats later this week including the Boris/Michio Kurihara collaboration…this week’s film viewings were far less than stellar…blah…

:::Idiocracy:::should’ve listened to the reviews here…i understand the satire, i understand the undertones…i also understand that neither make it a very funny film. Rating – 40

:::V For Vendetta:::slim pickings when this is the best movie I saw this week. pretty entertaining if further proof of the troubles with adapting alan moore work effectively. Rating – 65

:::La Haine:::didn’t get what thrilled folks about this one. seemed like typical french fare to me. an ok watch. Rating – 58

:::Twentynine Palms:::an utter exercise in banality. the shocking final 15 minutes far from make it worth sitting through the first 100. Rating – 29 (pun intended)

let’s hope this week is better. i’ll be watching the first of Nicolas Wendig Refn’s “Pusher Trilogy”, “A Scanner Darkly” and most likely a couple others.

:::the week in film:::

this week i saw one absolutely brilliant film and three fair-to-midling types. you can guess by the headline image which one was the good one…

:::Don’t Come Knocking:::i’m sure i’ll give this a few more points than it deserves because i really like wim wenders, but honestly it’s just not that good. some beautiful shots early but otherwise not much to even look at. Rating – 50

:::Lady Vengeance:::i’ll start by stating that chan wook park is at the forefront of visual and stylistic direction in today’s cinema. i’ll follow up by saying his films lack so much in the script/plotting area that it severely dulls the impact. the “vengeance” trilogy couldn’t have ended any sooner for me. don’t get me wrong, i enjoyed each film, but strictly on their visual and stylistic merits, and little else. would love to see park perhaps follow up with a more subtle, restrained script…his talents are far too great to waste in a singular arena. Rating – 70

:::Kiss Kiss Bang bang:::fairly enjoyable mystery-comedy. nothing that’s can’t miss but enjoyable enough if you have a night to waste. Rating – 72

:::Children of Men:::now for the good stuff…so much better than i could ever have imagined cuaron was even capable of. without seeming cliche, i was completely rivetted to the screen and thought to myself the whole time “i can’t remember the last time i saw something so good on the big screen”….and that’s my recommendation to you, dear reader…see it ON THE BIG SCREEN. if you don’t like it, blame me or god…if you do, you have taste. Rating – 95