A Saturday on Foot

Public readings by Waterside.

Paul Shugrue from WNRN's "Out of the Box"

Gayla Robinson (last year's Sea Level singer-songwriter contest winner)

Beautiful buskers on a stroll.

Sea Yay Saturday

pic: snailtrail.com

Started with Lungs by Florence. I wrote about this yesterday, so no need to reiterate other than to say, I'm still digging it but can't wait for the new release.

pic: melophobe.com

I've liked Yeasayer a while, mainly because I trust my dear Heather's taste and she told me to like them. Of course, she was correct. I listen here and there. Then,  yesterday, as I was looking over the Florence & the Machine post, noticing how they're remixing her, etc., I decided to listen to All Hour Cymbals again. I don't have Odd Blood yet, but hear it's more dancey-poppy.

Back to Cymbals, the psychedlics on "No Need to Worry" rival any 60s or 70s Doors song you will ever find. I dig. "Wait for the Winter" satisfies that jungle drummer in you, yet also pleases the Wolfmother, Witchcraft, or even Decemberists fan inside. Then "Waves" pulls out non-electric Joy Division melancholy ambience. Yes yes. Yeasayer (per their wiki) call themselves "Middle Eastern-psych-snap-gospel." Well, yeah, I mean, who doesn't? They're right, though, as there are elements of all of this.

Check out the best thing ever: La Blogotheque's The Take Away Shows, featuring Yeasayer performing on the Paris Metro: click here for the awesome.

pic: youaintnopicasso.com

Ended my sesh with The Whigs out of Athens, GA. They're more traditional rock than Flo or Yeasayer, but I felt like upping the energy but keeping with the solid percussion and indie undertones was fitting. These guys are more Southern rock than I normally even listen to--but if you like Drive By Truckers or The Damnwells, you'll definitely dig on The Whigs. With Kings of Leon's popularity growing like cancer, there's a chance these dudes can ride some coattails. I don't mean they sound like KOL. I just mean I think they should take advantage of the popularity of a not-dissimilar sounding group's rise to the top.

I hope to see them live in 2011.

 

Florence IS the Machine

I have been digging on "Heavy in Your Arms" by Florence & the Machine since the Eclipse soundtrack came out months and months ago (and which I highly recommend: Beck, Jack White, Metric, Black Keys and on and on). Turns out, she's gonna release it as a single and also release her album Lungs as a two-disk re-introduction to our ears called Between Two Lungs (full track list below).

I like Lungs. Especially her voice and the percussion. It's just a little muted and I can't tell you exactly why. Her songs are almost there, but need a friend to pull out all the stops. Even on her current single, "Dog Days Are Over," the vocals and drums are what you remember, and the rest is retro-pop and Britty and cute...just not punchy enough--not dancey enough.

It's not all bad, not at all. "A Kiss With A Fist" is rocky bossy in the vain of early Strokes and 50s American rock-n-roll. "Drag my teeth across your chest to taste your beating heart." That's a great lyric.

I'm glad to hear she'll be collaborating with some Britrap people, including the effin' great Dizzee Rascall. I think it'd be cool if she worked with Mark Ronson too, but that's not happening just yet. Anyway, bottom line is, I like Lungs and I'm totally excited for its fuller, fatter big sister.

Tracks:

CD 1:

Dog Days Are Over

Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)

I'm Not Calling You A Liar

Howl

Kiss With A Fist

Girl With One Eye

Drumming

Between Two Lungs

Cosmic Love

My Boy Builds Coffins

Hurricane Drunk

Blinding

CD 2:
Heavy In Your Arms

You've Got the Dirtee Love (this features Dizzee Rascall!!)

Hurricane Drunk (The Horrors Remix)

Strangeness & Charm (Live from Hammersmith Apollo)

Swimming (Live from Hammersmith Apollo)

Dog Days Are Over (Yeasayer Remix)

Florence &The Machine perform acoustically Live from The Roundhouse:
Drumming Song
Girl With One Eye
Hurricane Drunk
Dog Days Are Over
My Boy Builds Coffins

Hospital Beds

Artorexia

Hannah just showed me these awesome skeleton pinups online.  I did a search and behold: this crazy find from a blog called Randommization. Turns out, they weren't arts & crafts, but are sales tools from an x-ray company. Can you say brilliant, creative marketing? Kudos. Here are a few more...

Great job. Reminds me subtly of Norfolk's own Stuntkid. I went to his gallery opening over the summer. Here's what I mean:

Stuntkid is Jason Levesque and he's one of the best artists around here (meaning Virginia and beyond...not meaning Norfolk). He does a lot with muted, yet vibrant colors and is a "pin-up" period (in a good way) right now. AltDaily wrote about him last spring when he illustrated the first ever issue of The Many Loves of the Amazing Spiderman with Marvel Comics, which shows some pinup but not the haunted skeletal vibe of th above works, which I really am digging on.

Dressin It Up

Here's a picture (taken by Louis Fisher) of Mo and I doing the twist at AltDaily's Pulp Fiction afterparty last weekend at The Boot. DJ Android killed it, so props to her. You can't really tell from the pic, but Mo is Mia Wallace before the overdose, and I am Mia Wallace after.

 I love, Love, LOVE costumes, Halloween, silliness, dressing up, Halloween, and, well, Halloween. My year of Halloween blogging is almost up and I'll soon be picking a costume. Listing ideas monthly has been a great help, though, as this is the first year ever I don't find myself a couple of days before the big day wondering what I'm gonna wear--and by then all the thrift stores are pith.

I predict a good Halloween this year, as we at AltDaily will be showing Zombieland at The Naro on October 29 (preparty at Colley Cantina), and after that....ZOMBIE PROM complete with the Dead Michael Jacksons doing it up at Taphouse. Dead Michael Jackson's isn't really a band, btw. It's the uber-talented Chris Dean (who sings for Virginia Symphony Chorus and Beachstreet USA, as well as directs a Sunday choir and participates in ONE with his cohort Ivan King. Ivan's gonna be a dead MJ and so is their friend Casey, who'll alternate between guitar and bass as Chris sings and Ivan runs the laptop.

Here are some more Pulp pics for your enjoyment.

Unplanned.

pic: absolute1

Ancestor to the Merowl (aka: Owlmer)

A day I didn't expect. 

Work morning after Pulp Up Down Etc.

(Too many smokes with old friends).

Hour, maybe two

Town Point Park

Thought buskers & jammers 

But was not

WAS its own. 

Was warm. Jovial. Nice.

View/Vapor/View

Walking. Mansions stoned to their time. Massive. Strong. 

Stockley. Art. Twilight. Balloons.

Norfolk. Pub. Scheme.

Home.

Unplanned.

Over Normal

Stanley Donwood's first US art show is premiering as we speak in San Francisco's Fifty24SF Gallery. Called "Over Normal," the artist most famous for doing Radiohead's artwork (both albums and websites) has created seven pieces using the primary colors found in Interstate billboard advertisements and the primary words found in solicitous spam emails. I wish I could go. I wish I wish I wish.

BUSK You Up in My Love

This is big. Bigger than the event itself. Big because the point of its existance carries more weight than any single promotion, busker, or fan. Friday night, post-hurricane and pre-Labor Day, we invited buskers down to Colley Avenue. They came and sang and people walking to movies or ice cream shops got special treats for their eyes and ears. Check out SPIN to learn more. Here are some pictures I took:

Worth It

I’d passed this in the video store multiple times, attracted to Sienna Miller’s bright red wig (a’la Run Lola Run) and to James Franco’s, well, everything. But I’d never heard of this 2007 film, didn’t remember it being in the cinema, and never rented it. Last night it was on the Netflix instant queue (which I suggest you all check out) for free.

It gets a B-, and this is mainly due to the first half of the film. The plot goes something like this: Camille (Miller) is this flighty blonde sweetheart hopelessly devoted to Silas (Franco), a petty thief her uncle (a parole officer) is in charge of and mildly dislikes. They live in Podunk, KY.

Silas doesn’t love Camille, however. He’s realized her dream to honeymoon in Niagara Falls will get him across the Canadian border and away from his troubles with the law. Because his parole officer is her uncle, he’s agreed to turn a blind eye to Silas’s trip.

Off they go on a motorcycle with a pink side car, Camille annoying Silas with her happiness, Silas silently stewing. They stop at a diner and meet an old cowboy (the late, great David Carradine—though this is hardly his best work) with a collection of rainbow-colored horses. There’s an accident, Camille dies, Silas runs to a farmhouse for help but chickens out after dialing 911 and—truly—accidentally robs the housewife there.

A dark comedy of errors ensues and the movie begins to finally pick up. Camille, now dead and decaying, though a physical presence Silas brings along and cares for (buying her a wig and bathing her in phemaldehyde to help mask her funk), they run from the law who thinks Silas is a robber and murderer. Throughout their trip, which culminates in Niagara Falls, Silas’s guilt over killing Camille turns into actual feelings for her, and she becomes less and less annoying as she deals with the fact that she’s now one of the undead.

Kudos especially goes to Miller’s acting here, as she pulls off a Kentucky accent properly, being British and all. Of course, Franco can do no wrong ever. The main problem both lead actors deal with in Camille is the lack of good script. Even in the early points of the storyline, before the adventure scenes rescue the film, their raw acting talent comes through in situations where Franco is angry and Miller’s feelings are hurt. They both can wrinkle a mighty brow.

I assume the movie was low budget, as the special effects aren’t top notch and the costumes are a little misguided. It appears the costume designer and director had an indie carnival-meets-Midwest vibe in mind, and it shows in subtle ways like the layers in Camille’s wedding dress. Unfortunately, I don’t think they got enough of the fashion into the movie to make it cohesive. Sometimes they just looked cheap, which is unfortunate.

So, bottom line, it’s a good movie to watch when it’s free on Netflix. I’ll watch it again either late at night and bored, or when my girlfriends and I are hardcore James Franco chatting and I get to say “I found a new one!”

Lighter Fight

pic: plushtucson.com

I was just sent Thrift Store Cowboy's newest album, Light Fighter. It's not bad.

I had heard of this band (hell, they may be on my I-Pod for all I know--that's happened before) but was pretty sure I hadn't heard of them. Then I realized their producer was Craig Schumacher (Neko Case, Iron and Wine) and was more intrigued. It's easy listening. Not quite country, not quite rock. Good for fans of Ryan Adams, Neko Case, or Roadside Graves.

The problem? They're not Ryan Adams, Neko Case, or Roadside Graves. The identity is a little less defined--at least on my first listen. I'd like to see them live and give that a decent shot. The guitar riffs are good and sound like they would really rock live, but muted via a laptop speaker, the desparation in Daniel Fluett's voice is more "life sucks" than "I hate myself and want to die." I prefer my country of the latter variety. Again, I'm not saying this is a bad record. I'm already liking it more on the second go-round.

Listen for yourself here and lemme know what you think.