Little Specs of Pulp.

A great piece of pop cultural writing by Bridget Johnson was recently offered up to me like something deep fried on a stick.  In “Watching Pulp Fiction With Quentin Tarentino“, she delves into what the legendary film could have become.  Some of the more interesting tidbits include:

There was originally a scene of Mia Wallace’s pilot, Fox Force Five, in the script, the third story was at one time completely different, bringing in new characters, Paul Calderon, who had a short scene as the bartender, was Tarantino’s favorite to play Jules Winnfield, Miramax kingpin Harvey Weinstein had plans to open a chain of Jack Rabbit Slims in the wake of the movie’s success, Vincent Vega was supposed to be the brother of Vic Vega (Michael Madsen) in Reservoir Dogs (though this is pretty much common knowledge to any Tarentino fan), Butch the boxer (Willis) was written for Matt Dillon, and Daniel Day-Lewis was interested in John Travolta’s role.

Oh my… Secrets nearly as juicy as a Big Kahuna Burger.  If you read the ARTICLE, scroll down to the comments.  It’s nearly a 50/50 split on QT lovers/haters.  He’s a polarizing film-maker, no doubt.  So was Orson Welles and Fritz Lang though.  So… ya know.

-Sonny

Hey You Guys! Art and Cause.

The HEY YOU GUYS! charity event seems to be a Art gallery type party thrown for DonorsChoose.org (a charity that “makes it easy for anyone to help students in need”).  They’re playing the original Ghostbusters this year and as such inviting artists to submit Ghostbuster-themed art.  Click on any of the above links to donate, or simply check it out.  The event is on December 5th, in Pasadena.  Details at the site.  Here’s a couple samples of art:

-Sonny

The ‘Top 10 Album List’ Shame.

I can’t believe people are already asking me to list my “Top 10 Albums of the Decade”.  I can’t even begin to put that type of list together.  It’s hard enough at the end of the year to do, let alone 10 years worth in one sitting.  Besides, what I’ve done in the past here (in December sometime) is put albums I thought were good only into vague and trivial categories.  I don’t RANK them.  I understand people who [supposedly] love music wanna be critics, but it just seems wrong to do as a music lover.  This isn’t weight lifting or NFL football we’re talking about, this is music.  Art.  Ya know?  This isn’t a competition.  Fuck, I’ll pick a big list of my favorites from 2009 (hell, even the decade), but that’s all it is: a list of favorites in no particular order.  That’s the other aspect to this.  If I can’t pick 10 from a year only, how am I supposed to pick 10 from 10 years worth of music?  I counted 50 albums — on the nose — from my 2008 albums list.  That’s how much music I  give chances to, genuinely enjoy, and feel are worth mentioning at the end of the year.  I don’t do 10, that’s too hard for me.  Plus… I don’t even remember 2002.  Let alone what albums came out in 2002.  Lists are fucking overrated anyway.  But there’s something especially shitty about ranking albums as if they were college football teams headed to the BCS.

Shame on anyone who calls themselves a “music lover” but will push music into the pits of competition with a snap of the fingers.  Shame on you.

-Sonny

Giraffes on Fearless Music.

The Giraffes are a hedonistic and heavy rock and roll band from Brooklyn, New York.  Fearless Music is a television show that airs on Saturday nights (late) featuring indie bands performing live.  The Giraffes played a song last night on the show (you can go vote for them), which hasn’t been cranked into the Internet yet.  When it does — probably sometime this week — I’ll be sure to embed it.  The band also played the show years ago, when their self-titled album came out.  On Fearless’ website their dubbing the song “Having Fun With Our Souls” when any Giraffe fan or Giraffe himself would call it “Having Fun With Assholes” (the real title).  Quite a difference in meaning there.  Besides, anyone who knows the band knows these guys don’t have souls.  Either they were born without them, or they sold them one a piece each for a ringed six-pack of Diesel-Talls.  Here’s a good vid of “Louie Guthrie Wants to Kill Me” off Prime Motivator.  Notice how many beers, bottles, cups, and drinks are thrown on the singer and his reaction (or lack of), that should give you a good indication of what type of band this is.

-Sonny

Internet/Future Weaponry.

-  Boeing Laser Systems Destroy Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Tests. “The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] in May demonstrated the ability of mobile laser weapon systems to perform a unique mission: track and destroy small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)…  As part of the overall counter-UAV demonstration, Boeing also successfully test-fired a lightweight 25mm machine gun from the Laser Avenger platform to potentially further the hybrid directed energy/kinetic energy capability against UAV threats.”

- Police Open Up to Social Media. “PC Ed Rogerson is on Twitter. He is one of about 20 or so police officers that have turned to the micro-blogging service.  He started using Twitter in October in a bid to reach more of the people that live along the streets he patrols in Starbeck, Harrogate.  Even before MyPolice gets going some forces are pioneering widespread use of social media.”

- Chinese Military Site Draws Hackers. “The Chinese military defense website was subjected to 2.3 million hacking attempts in its first month, according to officials.  “When there were major events taking place related to the military and national defense, the number of (cyber) attacks rose,” said editor Ji Guilin.”  In an NBC news piece I saw the other day an ex-US government official was claiming that a hack into the military’s primary system (2006, I think?) had been by the Chinese.  He said, “I don’t blame them.  They do it to us, we do it to them.”

-Sonny

Life Eggolasting.

Could this brand trigger the End of Days?

Who knew Eggo’s were even still popular??  The time before the last time I went to Costco I grabbed the massive bulk pack — I think it comes with 60, 4 bags of 15 — and ate them til I couldn’t eat them anymore.  Yup, ran out of syrup and everything.  It lasted me one season and well into the next (Spring to Summer?).  Well, last time I went they didn’t have this mega-pack.  In fact, they didn’t have any Eggo’s at all!  I told myself this was a good thing, that I didn’t actually want that many (or any) more Eggo’s, and that they’ll spell both the end and rebirth of some future civilization (along w/ Twinkies).  I’m wrong, we’re still standing — and not eating one another — even though a plant flooding down at an Atlanta Kellogg factory triggered a shortage of their tasty goodness.  Combine this tragedy with equipment/technical troubles at another plant in Tennessee, and we’re hit with the largest Eggo drought the world has ever known.  Light the beacon, sound the alarms, activate emergency protocol!  The president’s address earlier this week on the matter confirms his lack of leadership in disastrous circumstances; after all, this could be a terrorist attack.  “This is a matter that needs to be dealt with swiftly, and we’ll all have to sacrifice as a people.  There are plenty of imitation Eggo’s out there, now’s the time to act”, he ordered of the people with his snobbish East-coast liberal elitism.  To which the general public replied: “You really are a muslim who wasn’t born here, aren’t you?”

-Sonny

Rotting Apple (Worms and All).

The apocalypse is coming.  Board ur windows and burn ur Apple products.  You’ve been warned.

Steve Jobs and co. are ready to patent a new advertising technology which practically defines “intrusion” in both a technological and marketing sense.  The new idea is to display advertising on nearly anything with a screen: “computers, phones, televisions, media players, game devices and other consumer electronics.”  Apple’s calling it their “enforcement routine”, which makes users watch ads they don’t want to watch, unwarranted.  Apparently it demands attention.  Yes, it freezes your device until you either click it, answer a question, or simply demonstrate you’ve noticed the fucking thing.  The tech would be embedded into the hard drive/CPU of the device, and ads would appear at any time they’re programmed to (and yes, one could easily program random times).  So, obviously, it would only come on Apple products like iPods, Mac Notebooks, and Apple TVs (because you know they’re working on that too).

Microsoft lovers shouldn’t get too cozy either; the software giant is reportedly working on developing the same technology.  Here’s the article.  Found via Warren Ellis’ site.

-Sonny

Felt 3 – A Tribute to Rosie Perez.

For me personally, the announcement that Aesop Rock was producing this album, this summer at the infamous Colorado venue Red Rocks, was a nice shot in the arm.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Ant.  I think he’s brilliant (who else uses slide guitar in Hip-Hop).  But after a brand new Ali record this year produced entirely by him (which is a great record), as well as Lemons last year and a whole slew of local work, I was ready for something different.  Now, I guess us locals got that in some very atypical Hip-Hop releases this year from the Twin Cities:  Eyedea & Abilities‘ “By The Throat” takes the boundaries of rap music and slices them to pieces with revolutionary turntablism and pseudo-singing, and POS‘ newest album is both melodic and heavy with both singing and screaming (I hear he’s up for some MTV awards??  Good for him).  But bringing in a Def Jux dude like Aesop Rock to produce the new FELT record is simultaneously similar to the “Hip-Hop variation” previously mentioned, and something else entirely.

I’m not sure why, but I’ve always had a thing for the Def Jux sound.  El-P, Cage, Mr. Lif, Rob Sonic, I love all those guys.  My favorite set at this year’s Soundset festival was probably Dibbs and El-P (although, seeing DOOM was dream-like).  And that particular sound is very much felt on FELT 3 (I couldn’t resist it, I’m an assbag, I know).  Aesop has been making his own beats since he began.  Since then, his music has refined itself to a sort of trance-y, industrial-hop that’s catchy and weird at the same time.  2007’s solid “None Shall Pass” had it, and so does this album.  There’s a good balance of complexity/simplicity in his production; tracks might contain verse rhythms with very little to them, a few drum hits and some bass, but they’ll quickly evolve into a layered “wall of sound” (I wonder of Phil Spector will be fucked with in prison?) type production with melody and hook.  It’s the type of thing that keeps one’s ears perky, that’s for sure.  And, like I drove at earlier, it’s very refreshing to hear.

SLUG and MURS are good rappers, in general and on this album.  That should come as no surprise to anyone even thinking of reading this.  Murs not only seems to get better and better with time, he also seems to expand his reach more and more with time (what a combo, eh?).  He’s a little bit snarky on this album, talking shit and taking names, but it works for him and he isn’t a dick about it.  Murs is still a hard-working everyman’s type of MC who relishes in connecting to the listener (this is probably more obvious on “Murs For President“), and it still feels like he’s out to show the listener he’s there for them, and his skills as an MC. 

Slug, on the other hand, feels like he’s to the point where he doesn’t feel like he needs to prove anything to anyone.  This is both good and bad.  Even on the latest Atmosphere disc, it felt like he was stepping backwards from irony splashed quick witted rhymes of his previous self.  The good news is his lyrics are more mature, they’re immensely thought-out and carefully delivered.  The bad news is they don’t seem as desperate (in a good way) as they once were.  It’s like he’s turned from a young blue-collar type to a retired old writer of novels sharing his wisdom with the world.  It’s interesting to listen to, and beautiful in a way, but not quite as much fun as it once was.

But the three indie rap icons come together well in the end.  I really think the highlight is the production — and who knew Aesop could scratch like that? — although there’s really no two rappers who didn’t come from the same crew with as good a chemistry as Slug and Murs do.  And that meet-up at Fifth Element looked awfully fun, too bad I missed it.

-Sonny

Wale – Attention Deficit.

I haven’t spoken about Hip-Hop in a while.  I could use it, put my mind onto something else, might be good for my psyche.  Two of my most anticipated Hip-Hop albums of the year is a good place to start.  I just threw in Felt 3, and I like to listen to an album straight through before saying anything about it (see, there IS a reason why I never talk shit about U2’s “No Line on the Horizon”).  So I’ll start with one of my favorite new rapper’s debut LP…

I first heard of Wale via his “Mixtape About Nothing“.  I thought he was skilled, quick witted, funny as hell, and borderline experimental (at least in our current state of “mainstream” Hip-Hop).  I still do, but that isn’t necessarily who he is on his recently released debut studio album “Attention Deficit“.  Wale seems himself, and some tranquilized version of himself at the same time.  His wordplay is less funny, more serious throughout the album.  I don’t blame him for that, it’s his debut album and he doesn’t want to be seen as just a mixtape hooligan putting an album out, but it sucks when your favorite part about him is his humor and wit.  He’s still good, don’t get me wrong.  His flow is there.  And I guess his wordplay works in the context of the album.

When I read that David Sitek (of TV On The Radio) would be producing this record, I celebrated with party hats, blowers, and cake.  Well, not really.  But I was uber-excited about the whole thing.  The mastermind behind on of my favorite new bands working for my favorite new rapper??  Why wouldn’t I eat cake?  Unfortunately, this isn’t really the case.  Sitek’s only produces TWO tracks on the entire disc.  These tracks are probably my two favorites on the musical front.  Which is why this was so disappointing for me.  Sitek’s beats are not ABOVE the others, but they are the most ear-catching, unique, and perfectly layered.  Sure, Green Lantern and Mark Ronson make their mark with a catchy (if not a little slow) song with a repetitive hook.  Ronson’s first solo track is good too (with Bun’B).  Best Kept Secret, Cool and Dre, Ronson, The Neptunes, none of them suck.  And each makes a valid contribution to the disc, but when I listen to this album I always come back to the question: “Wouldn’t this be WAY better if it was a Sitek/Wale ONLY project?”

That’s the other problem, here.  Wale’s got too good a chops to be featuring someone else on nearly every single track.  When Raekwon (or an MC of that ilk) does it, it makes sense.  But Wale’s always been a solo entity.  He’s never with a crew in any of his photo ops, when he plays live it’s just him and his band, and his mixtapes (mixtapes are typically more guest-heavy than albums) feature only about 4 or 5 tracks with other artists.  On Attention Deficit it’s the opposite, only 4 tracks feature him ONLY.  That just ain’t right for him; again, it feels like he’s not being himself.  He might need Lady Gaga to help him sell records, but he sure as shit doesn’t need her to be a better artist or make a better track (in fact, I think it’s almost limiting).  Granted, this might not have been his choosing.  The album was originally put out by Allido Records, but Interscope has some stock in it.  I could see them putting pressure on a relatively unknown rapper like Wale to feature a lot of “guest appearances” as it helps with marketing and publicity.  But I honestly would’ve liked to have heard more lone Wale.

The album’s worth checking out if a) you’re a fan of Wale to begin with (or Ronson or Best Kept Secret), b) you’re tired of boring rappers sounding the same but independent Hip-Hop’s too weird for you, or c) you’re curious about David Sitek beats.  It’s not like it’s a waste.  In fact, it’s a pretty decent first step towards a discography that will take us well into 2020.  Yup, Wale will be around when we’re flying hover cars.

[Felt review to come]

-Sonny

(not really) New Band, Halftime, OSTs.

-  There’s downtime between girlfriends for Liam Gallagher apparently; and by girlfriends I mean bands.  It was only months ago when Oasis came out publicly to call it quits.  I remember, cause I was in Hawaii at the time (one of those little tidbits you’ll remember from a vacation, even though it had nothing to do with the vacation).  Liam spoke to an Italian radio station late last week.  Needless to say, he dropped some bombs:

1. The epitome of the “break-up” was when Noel grabbed one of Liam’s guitars, a gift from his wife, and smashed it in front of him.  So Liam went and did the same to one of Noel’s babies.
2. Liam has already started a band with all the ex-Oasis members, he made it clear this wasn’t another “Oasis”.
3. He and this band will start gigging “in the next few months”.

No word yet on the band itself.  What it’s called, how Oasis-esque it is, etc.

-  The physical copy of The Road Original Soundtrack — Nick Cave & Warren Ellis — will be available weeks after the film’s release on January 12th.  MP3s will be available on sites like iTunes on November 23rd however.  I’d advise looking into it.

-  I’m not sure how I feel about The Who doing the Super Bowl Half-Time Show.  I like the fact of going after the “legends”, especially after the Timberlake/Janet and Aerosmith/Spears/Nsync debacles.  But I don’t think American football fans really give a shit about The Who.  They’d probably get WAY better ratings with someone like Carrie Underwood/Taylor Swift.  People who like 60’s music are aging.  Does the committee who selects these bands realize they’re alienating a decent chunk of the under-50 crowd, a moderate chunk of the under-40 crowd, and a massive chunk of the under-24 crowd.  I love The Who, they just don’t belong at an NFL event.  Who will they select next year, Neil Young?  Just kiddin’, he’d NEVER do it.

-Sonny