Master of the Flying Guillotine (1976) [Original Post]
After watching One-Armed Boxer you know I had to get a little Master of the Flying Guillotine action. The killer sequel with some juicy tournament gathering and the ultimate martial gimmick. Dig it.
There aren't a lot of Nowhere trailers that come up straight away on YouTube and they're all terrible. [They] don't even scratch at a fraction of the style and force of will that elevates otherwise middling material. The Doom Generation looks more recognizable as a film, but because of that it just seems lacking by comparison. The TV spot is less tragic than the stock Teen Movie home video trailer, but it's still funny to think somebody actually tried to trick regular people into seeing Nowhere.
Obvious allusions to reality TV pop music supergroups melt away as Harry Styles dances his way to one of the best songs of the year. An anthem for our age, soaked in bitter nostalgia, and increasingly populated with a grim sense of mourning. Some of this is my own inflection, a song arriving at the best - or worst possible time. Yet for all its tart lyrical ambivalence, there's a triumphant energy -- sweetness and light bursting out of the darkness with bells chiming. A rare instance of enjoying a Top 10 single, this one has a great video to boot, and my only real criticism is that it's so damned short. I guess I'll just have to keep it on repeat. Something I never really expected to want from a One Direction alum.
Before there was the Master of the Flying Guillotine there was the One-Armed Boxer: Yu Tien Lung -- a skilled two-armed martial artist who is dealt a terrible injustice and forced to hone his remaining fist to be an ultimate weapon of unfeeling destruction. Through dedication and intelligence he will bring the league of vile mercenary combatants to justice. This is my jam and was a terrific watch recently.
My original thought was: "1990 forever. Fuck you, 2023." The thing is, they tell me this actually came out as a single in 1991, and I just couldn't allow that kind of accounting error to go unchecked. Lady Miss Kier says she wants a good beat, and my needs aren't far from hers. Maybe throw in some 'chingy' piano you can step to, and a pretty lady wailing. That'll just about do it. Deee-Lite to the rescue with a song that isn't the tour de force of Groove is in the Heart, but is still a swell time.
Christine and The Queens - Tears Can Be So Soft (2023) [Original Post]
Actively looking for new music and not being immediately revolted, so that's nice. Nostalgia continues to push through the eighties into familiar territory of the nineteen nineties and new millennium. There's an obvious debt to Massive Attack and Teardrop here, as well as feeling like a fusion of a catalogue of influences from 1990 to 1992. There's enough here to be satisfied, but it's hard not to be distracted by the prickly creep of nostalgia for a time that was exciting for its experimentation and sense of discovery. A reasonably comfortable fit, but one that's been worn before.
You ever see the SLC Punk! poster? The one with the lime green and bright orange? I sure have -- but it still took me this long to actually check the movie out. It's one of those ones that comes up from time to time. It always seemed potentially interesting, even if I thought it might have weak fundamentals, and play about as convincing to its subject as Hackers was to being cool. When the subject came up again I thought about having never seen SLC Punk and wondered if I might enjoy SLC Punk. So I watched SLC Punk. And it was good. Generally good. A fun movie unto itself, populated with interesting characters, and an amusing reflection on its subject. Weirdly nostalgic as an artifact of 1998 as much as anything else. Matthew Lillard is a treat: lankily filling the screen with character and awkward charm as he impotently hops and down with mohawk flopping, and generally pontificating a philosophy that inevitably runs its course. I like a bit of chaos within strict borders of rigid rule -- lines that must not be crossed -- but these days we could probably all do with a little bit of punk in our lives.
More new release dreampop that I happened to stumble upon. A reminder that there is a lot of interesting music out there - it can just be a little harder to find. Mortal words swim in an ethereal stream of chimes, tone, and string. It's warm and cool all at the same time. Like a chilly, orange lit evening in summer filled with sentiment. I haven't connected with the other Julie Byrne songs I've heard quite as strong, but this one is a keeper. A stand-out lyric: "You were the family that I chose."
Confidence Man & Daniel Avery - On & On (Again) (2023) [Original Post]
It had to happen. It's been threatening to for a while. At long last, the heavy weight of eighties nostalgia that's held pop music (and culture at large) in a death grip has finally broken -- moving on to the nineties. Maybe even the early two-thousands! There's a hit of awkward, self-consciousness to the presentation of Confidence Man that isn't quite the earnest, slick cool of the period it's emulating. Maybe it's all parody, but it doesn't really seem like it. Either way, this is a throwback that hits its mark well enough to break the uncanny valley of it all. I might not stay on this ride, but I'll at least enjoy taking this one. Another entry in the season of new music, and a reminder of the turn-of-the-millennium dance music that evaporated during the mid-2000s apocalypse.
Gus Dapperton & Benee - Don't Let Me Down (2023) [Original Post]
Benee does the heavylifting on another dose of dreamy pop in collaboration with Gus Dapperton. This one has higher, warmer musical aspirations than pandemic anthem Supalonely, which I actually also quite enjoyed. Benee is the rare exception in the current, disposable pop music scene -- a name that warrants immediate attention. I look forward to listening to this one on repeat, and enjoying more new music. It seems to be the season for it.
Remember fun? Fun for fun's sake? Remember that? That's pretty good. We should get more music that's just fun. Monnie delivers Millennial Auspop with a low effort vibe that evokes morning and afternoon in the Summer of 2000. I'm not saying it's the best song in the world, but I can't fathom how this hasn't cracked 10,000 views on YouTube. I'm less bored, and more on board. Check it out. Tell a friend. Get it in your regular rotation. You'll be better for it. Bouncy and alive, it's a much needed burst of energy, and a welcome dose of enjoyable new music.
Another song I haven't thought about in a long time. Maybe thirty years. More nostalgic than I would like, but the chance to rediscover something is always nice. I'm not one for swimming much, and wouldn't advise doing it at night, but hey. That's the romance of the picture it paints. Live a little. Or at least, listen to somebody who has.
Sweden does it again! There could really only be one winner from this year's Eurovision Song Contest. Loreen brought the same A-game that made Euphoria an anthemic stand-out from the 2012 show, blasting the doors off with another bona fide hit in the same mold. It's not perfect. When you really listen and think about it, it's a little odd to describe "violins playing" as if pitching a scene for a film, instead of simply expressing the genuine feeling that would solicit that type of theatrical treatment -- but lets not worry about it! It works. It sounds fantastic. It fills my chest with the stuff that makes a fella want to fight for something. Does it sound a bit like a snotty four year old talk-crying? Look, it doesn't matter. All I care about is love!
The Dream Academy - Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want (1986) [Original Post]
Did The Smiths do it first? Sure, but why let that spoil a good time? There's no reason that Ferris bloke needs to get in the way, either. Dream Academy's airy, renaissance fair overhaul blows the dust and self-loathing off of the guitary ode to angst, making its soppy title play more like an affirmation to fulfillment than the usual Morrissey bellyaching. The Dream Academy cover turns the song into the soundtrack to its own good time. Yeah, I would like to listen to this in an art museum. Or maybe a nice outdoor restaurant with creeping vines on lattice. Or just at home after a good spring clean. Anywhere a dream might come to pass, really.
It feels as if Karl Urban is experiencing his twelfth career breakout with The Boys. Various roles have brought him international recognition (even if people don't always remember he's the same guy as something else), but I'll always think of Out of the Blue -- one of the weightier entries in his filmography. A devastatingly arresting New Zealand production based on a real-life siege. Chilling in its semi-rural suburban normalcy, broken by the actions of one individual. Worth tracking down.
Is it really possible this song came out in 1992? I always seem to think The Cranberries were earlier than that, but I guess there's a certain transcendent quality to that voice. I'm not as inclined to romanticize the concept of Dolores O'Riordan as others, but it's tough to deny the rare qualities of it all. There are several videos for Dreams on YouTube, but this is the one I think of. Breezy, seductive, and effortlessly moody. I haven't thought about this song in a while. Overplayed soapy romcom soundtrack spun at every nineties high school dance? Maybe, but I heard it again a couple of nights ago, and it was nice.
Eurythmics - The Miracle of Love (1986) [Original Post]
I'll show you something good. Oh, I'll show you something good. It's been a rough year. A rough few months, but the thing is, a lot of that comes from a place of love. There's some comfort in that. A certain amount of strength and resolve. I'm not really one for believing in miracles, but I believe in that. That love is a tremendous, valuable thing. I would like more of it in my life. Unimpeded and uninterrupted. Sometimes it's hard to express those kinds of thoughts and that's where a lovely song like this one comes in. Those smooth, warm, velveteen vocals crystallizing something that transcends the simple language that's incidental to the tones and rhythm of its vibration. Maybe I've got it all wrong. Maybe there's a case for miracles being everywhere.
Christine and The Queens - 5 Dollars (2018) [Original Post]
Francophiles and perverts rejoice! 5 Dollars is an eminently listenable single from Christine and the Queens, who emerges as a discernible face in the post-popstar crowd. My mother pointed out a superficial similarity to Crispin Glover, which inevitably makes me think Crispin and The Queens, but lets not get distracted karate chopping and kicking the air. I say "perverts" because the video artfully edits a wordless sequence of getting ready for a big day (or night) on the town, with bondage straps only he/she/they will know you're wearing. Of course, that's not really the interesting part. The real fun is discovering there's an (original?) French version that doesn't have nearly as many views on YouTube. 5 dols, baby blues. 5 dols, baby.
This represents the point in the double helix of fate when Mel Gibson was in good favour, and Robert Downey Jr was one more heroin/cocaine speedball bender away from ruining his life, or somebody else's. The solution: strap him to a bed, cover him head-to-toe in latex make-up effects, and sing the classics. I never watched the 1986 BBC television series this was based on, but throw me an old fashioned gangster and The Chordettes' Mr. Sandman, and I'm pretty much pleased. Revisiting this after a solid decade or two away turned out to be a real nice time. If I didn't buy the DVD when it first came out, it'd be unearthing a hidden gem. If you've participated in the great forgetting, perhaps you'd like to find it for yourself. At this point, the twisting internalized whodunnit of the psoriatic novelist might even pass for something less than cliche. Also noteworthy as an early entry in the attempted theatrical legitimacy of Katie Holmes. Ask your parents, kids.
Biopics in the age of Content have become increasingly tedious exercises in children cosplaying events that were probably on film, but Chuck has the benefit of coming a little ahead of that curve, and with a cast of adults that may or may not be familiar with the subject matter, but at least know better. Still, the prospect of a film based on the guy that inspired Rocky might sound like a tough sell, but Liev Schreiber gives the title character -- Chuck Wepner, boxer who almost went the distance with World Heavyweight Champion Muhammad Ali in 1975 -- warmth and charisma. He's a rogue far less likely to be redeemed than his fictional counterpart, but that's okay. It's a good watch.
Recent tastes converge in an abrasive electroclash featuring Caroline Polachek buried somewhere within the warblings of Ladytron's worst harlequinned nightmare. God help anyone named Alice listening to this song. Don't get me wrong. I like it. I'm just seeing it from somebody else's perspective. The ineffectual nagging chant of "Alys" is bound to drive somebody clinically insane. Not me, though. The dissonant hyperpop is just keeping on the rails enough for me to call this a good time. They tell me its a new thing, but it really feels like a throwback.
