It's so easy

... to find good music.


The Mars Volta new album, "The Bedlam In Goliath", is a wonderful piece of musical art. The ex-At-the Drive In did it again, and managed to fit a whole bunch of delicious progressive rock jams into a new release. The lyrics are exceptional, and the hardcore feeling attached to it is superb, enough to keep my mind under constant pressure while listening to these fantastic tracks.







Finally! I found Witchcraft's second album, "Firewood", from 2005. And what could I expect from them, if not the best stoner rock alive? "Firewood" clearly steals a lot from old "Pentagram" early releases, but that doesn't take any credit away from them. Unlike the recent "The Alchemist", "Firewood" is raw and straight to the point, wrapping the corner stone between stoner rock and stoner metal in hot aluminium foil. Delicious.





Fuck fuck fuck, why do I always forget about how much I love Bowie? If there's anyone in the musical industry with a tremenduous amount of compilations, is David Bowie. (and J. Cash as well, but that's another story.) So you got to know how to pick them right. "London Boy", from 1998, is a fine way to start collecting. Why, you ask? Well, for starters you get to listen to the very original "Space Oddity" version, which seems rare to listen nowadays. The annoying "Laughing Gnome" he once tried to hide, now fits right in the middle of the album. And you get 16 more great songs from David, but it's important to mention that London Boy is not a Best Of. And that's the beauty of it, really.




And the new The Sword album, to be officially released in April this year, kicks ass.

Buzzards and Dreadful Crows

Finally, some time to breathe. After spending the last 6 ou 7 weeks in a peep-hope every day, since early morning to late night and with no time to sleep or eating right, I find myself now in a short term peace. Only exams left to do now, which means I can start and stop work whenever I actually want!

... it feels awesome.

And these are good days, especially because... the new Mars Volta album is out! Yes, and it's fuckin' great. "The Bedlam In Goliath" is one hell of an album, I know for sure I'll keep on listening to it over and over again as I did with the previous ones. And I've discovered a great 70's stoner rock band some time ago, called "Pentagram". It's a lot like Witchcraft, and I'm eager to find more stuff from those guys.

And I'm re-watching Band Of Brothers, the best war-series related ever made in history. Only two episodes left to finish it but.. it will be worth it. They're great. And I'm also re-watching good old Twin Peaks again, in good company.

A lot of work is coming again, very soon, both related and non related to University. But I don't really care, I want to make the most of these days and also do whatever the hell pleases me.

Taking both my camera and my girlfriend out, sometime, are priorities. A lot of music and movies are next on the list. Maybe even travelling, if the time is right. Who knows what 2008 might bring.

It's Cause Of These Things

So yes, we tend to underestimate the simple things, the minor pleasures of life. Often taking them for granted. But there is nothing, absolutely nothing, compared to the satisfaction of taking a Sunday off, have one hell of a (rather expensive) lunch, and drinking a delightful glass of wine in great company, with a view to die for in the city you love the most.

No rush, no preocupations, zero level process on the back of your mind. I have to be careful though, 'cause I can really get used to this.

Cheers!

Messed Up Xmas?

I hate buying people presents on Xmas. Don't get me wrong, because I love to give spontaneous gifts to people (who actually deserve such an act). But it's the "forced" feeling of buying, instead of offering. You give presents to someone you barely know just so they know "see, I'm not cheap".

So today I was with a friend making all the shopping (yes, I'm on of those who buys Christmas presents the day before, at midnight), and we thought of something really cool: wouldn't it be awesome if you had the nerve to give people the most wrong and absurd present to them, based on their personality?

It would be something like offering a Holy Bible to your satanic friend. Or frozen meat to your vegetarian buddies. A playstation game to your old fashioned grandfather. And maybe a coffee machine to the 5 year old next door! But the fun part would come when you said "I really hope you like it, I spent a long time figuring out what you would want". And then see their reaction. Man, I would so love that.

There should be a day like that. Believe me, it would be the greatest way to find the real personality of your friends! Aside from all this crap,

Merry Christmas.

Safe Music

For quite some time I've wanted to have a website about... music. Good music. Music I could share with the rest of the world. If there's something I love to do is to write about the music industry, so yes, my dream job would be the one presented in the Almost Famous movie.

Two years ago I had a blog in which I used to review the albums I loved the most, and the new ones I used to get my hands on. Unfortunately it didn't last long... nobody actually read the blog (like it happens with 80% of all the blogs) and it made me lose my interest.

I'm thinking about creating a small album-review system based on RSS - it wouldn't give me the trouble to actually build a website, only writing the review itself and publishing the Feed... A lot of people use iGoogle and NetVibes now, I could learn how to develop it as a gadget and publish it.

What I'd really love though, would be having more people to write with, kinda like it happens on Indienation (google it). That way I could share my wonderful perspective of the music magical world, and learn with my fellow colleagues. I have 2 or 3 people in mind, but I'm afraid of entering in this sort of projects now... they don't usually work and people tend to forget about them in a couple of weeks.

But my desire is strong, and as soon as I have time I will release the RSS Feed Reviewing. For sure :)

Witches, buffalos and dead ones

This week's recommendations:




Witchcraft - The Alchemist (2007)

[Stoner Rock / Hard Rock / Classic Rock]

[to fans of: Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd]






Omar Rodriguez Lopez - Se Dice Bisonte, No Bùfalo (2007)

[Progressive Rock / Experimental Rock / Psych Rock]

[to fans of: The Mars Volta]







...And You Will Know Us by the Trail Of Dead - Maddonna (1999)

[College Rock / Art Rock / Noise Rock / Post Hardcore]

[to fans of: At The Drive-In]

[my] (harsh) truth about CONTROL

So I finally got to see Control, the movie about Joy Division, and more specifically, Ian Curtis. For months I've been waiting for it to premiere, and to watch one of the most mysteryously dramatic stories about someone as odd as life itself. I can't say I'm disappointed, but unfortunately I can't say I'm satisfied either. I'll explain.

At the very first minute, you know you're going to get the silent treatment through the whole film. When you think about it, it makes some sense. Ian was a writer and a singer, but definitely not a speaker. You allow yourself to be embraced with a monochromatic silence, and a lack of long straight sequences that won't ever let you dissect whatever the hell was going on there. And yet, there is plenty of time for you to absorb the heat, or the cold, of that specific moment.

And there you have it. Ian Curtis is played by Sam Riley, a young man who's not a perfect match for Ian's looks, and definitely not a target hit on Ian's voice, but... he's the perfect middle term. The movie includes both music played by the original band members, and from the actors themselves, including the lead singing of Sam Riley. His effort is remarkable, but often failing miserably [his interpretation of Isolation is bloody terrible].

The story is straight forwarding. Perhaps too much. The sequences are short, silent, and they're simply too many. If Anton Corbjin's intention was to create frustration out of the lack of communication, he got way more than that. Which is good at some point, but then it just really gets you on your nerves. One hundred and twenty minutes of silence treatment can be harsh, so sometimes you're bombed with what seems to be some kind of an introspective diary, as if Curtis himself had the need to express and explain to you directly what he was going through. And honestly, it's akward. You can (could) get so much out of the facts themselves, that having someone explaining to you makes the whole plot fit together and following the same straight line.

And that, is bad.

Those who have seen 24 Hour Party People will find in Control a whole different approach. I was afraid Anton would make Ian's story into some kind of beautiful fairytale, something people could remember and tell others in a predefined order of events and emotions. And I wasn't completely wrong... the movie can be cruel, but it's not even as raw as those twenty minutes of Joy Division we get to lick in 24 Hour PP. Sean Harris may actually have been a better Ian than Riley, because he didn't call for the use of words. Riley is a closed book obviously, but only with heavy weights on top. Control represents darkness with a cherry on top.

But the main reason of my disappointment is because there could be so much more here. The characters are exactly what you would expect them to be, and you can't exactly love one of them. They don't give that much mystery, maybe except for Annik, which is gorgeous, a stunning woman who had a minor grade of importancy on the general plot... again, there could easily be so much more. It's like each character had their own string pulling them towards the very same end, and just when you think the string is about to break, it doesn't.

At some point, Ian Curtis [Sam] tells Annik that "some things about Joy Division are not meant to be beautiful". This is exactly what Anton should have paid more attention to, because in the end, it's all just a somewhat comprehensive story which doesn't really leave you wondering around thinking "what the hell happened after all?". You're pushed, they give you a puzzle of a thousand pieces and for two hours, they mount the first 950 pieces for you. The beautiful thing about Ian and the late 70's/early 80's Joy Division story is the fact that you simply cannot understand it. It's a back and forth of events, and fortunately this roleplay is pretty well expressed throughout the whole movie.

But the moments do sink in, eventually, and wether they're forced or not, the truth is they hit you. You miss the caption as a whole, but you know it's there. Still, I would rather have a shorter approach 24HPP style, because in this particular case, distancy only means you're getting closer. And if you don't get it, even better.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie, but the rush just is not one of my side-effects right now. Not even with the unfair "Atmosphere" being played just when Deborah finds Ian hanging, which would hit me like a damn frisbee if it wasn't so unfortunately predictable. But the [lack of] words is there, and they're burnt on wood. Timeless, eternal, just like they were then. But only now the world actually gets them. Unfortunately, the film also misses this final consideration.

Among a whole lot of things which made Joy Division so freakin' good.

Out of Control

Those idiots!

I've been waiting for Control to premiere for quite some months now, and it was scheduled for Novemeber 15th. And it did premiere that day... on only 3 fuckin' movie rooms in the entire country! Two in Lisbon, one in Porto. What a nerve, they keep releasing awful movies all the time, everywhere, for a long time, and when it comes to something not so much known for the masses, they just throw it at the corner. I hate the way the portuguese movie industry works, this is not the first time something like this happens.

Hopefuly I'm going to watch it next week, if it's still there.

Even More Deliveries

Yes, it's another delivery week! One more week has passed, LOTS of new albums, lots of good music. This blog is turning into a music only thingy... that will change eventually. Not now though! So let's get to business.

My week started with two albums from The Replacements, an alternative rock/punk/post-punk band from the 80's who began to rock my world a little bit more. They sound a lot like bands like The Libertines, like some kind of free punk with a lot of an indie scene mixed up. Their 1984 album, "Let It Be", is absolutely delicious. Which pushed me to "Tim", from 1985, and altough not as good, it's still highly recommended!

Still on an 80's mood, I got "Once In a Lifetime" from Talking Heads. And this was more of a revival scene, as I really wanted to hear Psycho Killer again. Still rockin', still making me know why the 80's were so damn good!

Again with the 80's mood, I decided to finally give it a try, to "Yes". And altough "90125" is a good album with the so well known "Owner Of a Lonely Heart", there's still somethig missing... and it doesn't really fulfill my expectations.

On a different mood, I discovered Riverside. They present themselves as a progressive rock / progressive metal band and... well, I'm glad they do, because that's exactly what they are. I'm not a really big fan of metal / hardcore melodies, (no, I don't like "Tool") but Riverside has somehow managed to capture my attention. They remind me of what a hardcore version of Pink Floyd would be, and that's enough to make me happy! "Out Of Myself", "Rapid Eye Movement", and "Second Life Syndrome" are the albums I own right now. The first one is highly recommended.

I also finally gave it a try to Wire, a somewhat soft-punk band from the 70's/80's. They really remind me of "Wipers", with some "Buzzcocks" influence. "154" and "Pink Flag" and the most know albums, and the two I'm currently listening to. The new wave tendency is quite clear, making it very pleaseant to hear anytime!

And I bought "One For The Road: Live!" from Ocean Colour Scene just an hour ago. Why? Well, I sorta like the band, and it costed 1,5€! And I definitely prefer these guys live... good old fashioned rock.

I also got a few more, but I'll leave them for next week. Or tomorrow... depends how bored I will be :)