Rock-n-Roll Is The New Porngraph(ers)

The New Pornographers came to town.

And I was there.

It was absolutely amazing.

I originally wanted to write a show review, but then I read the River Front Times show review and just got upset. It’s no fun reading something that overanalyzes every aspect and choice of a concert, while nitpicking at every wrong detail of a show. It definitely seems like the writer didn’t go there to have a good time, but just to judge the show (which actually is justifiably considering that’s what a review is, but still, no fun to read).

I went to the show for one simple reason: I love The New Pornographers. I went out of love, not to judge. And I had no qualms whatsoever with the show. I LOVED THE SHOW. I DON’T KNOW WHY EVERYONE IS SO DAMN CRITICAL. STOP BEING PITY BITCHES DAMNIT.

I digress.

I’m a bitter fan boy.

Lessons to be learned from the show:

Bejar crooning with Newman and Case being msuical 

The rotating front line of vocalists Neko Case, A.C. Newman, Dan Bejar, and Kathryn Calder mixed and weaved through each song with such uncanny harmony and accord it made them look like one big family: Newman as the father and frontman extraordinaire, Neko Case as the disgruntled Mom that can just fucking croon like none other, Bejar as the weird, awesome uncle that only shows up on Christmas, and Calder as the new blood trying desperately to prove herself. And she does. She totally does. Every singer brings something fresh to each song and watching them mix and sing the night away can mostly just be described as ecstasy. Pure ecstasy.

Bejar was my absolute favorite part of the evening. Crazy hair, skinny pants and the most unusually pleasing voice in music. Bejar would just wonder off and on stage for each song that needed him, completely chill with a beer in one hand, while wrapping the other around the microphone, knocking each song he sang completely out the park. Myriad Harbor has never sounded so sincere. He also took the lead on the final encore song of Testament to You in Verse. Best encore I’ll probably ever experience.

Neko proved that she’s the best and what she does and Calder was just a joyous ball of energy.

Best Concert I’ve ever been to.

I leave you with this:



Joel Samson Berntsen (Testament To You In Verse - The New Pornographers)

Get Him to the Greek Review

Based on trailers and TV spots, Get Him to the Greek seems like the kind of movie trying to cash in on the popularity of The Hangover. However, this is NOT THE CASE. Sex and drugs and alcohol all play a role, but the movie is alot tamer, and alot funnier than most well-educated and intelligent people would have thought (hey that's you!).

Basically the movie goes like this: the music industry is failing and Sergio Roma (Sean "P Diddy" Combs) needs to make some quick bank, so Arron Green (Jonah Hill) pitches the idea of having washed out, but classic "rock star" Aldous Snow  (Russel Brand) put on a reunion concert at The Greek. P Diddy eventually gets down with the idea and decides to have Green excute the plan since he pitched it, which means Green needs to somehow manage to get an alcoholic, drug-induced rock star from London to the states in time to play the show. Sounds boring and stereotypical right? Hold on...

Russel Brand sort of always seemed like a self-absorbed rock-star douche, which probably partially explains most people's reluctance to see the film, but he's really just another one of Jason Segel's fragile, touching characters. Sure, he was the self-absorbed rock-star douche in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, but that comes with the territory of portraying the paramour of a relationship that an entire movie is based around. Lucky for Brand, the length of Get Him to the Greek enables the viewer to actually get to know the "rock-star" Aldous Snow. Brand's actually fairly successful in playing a touching, washed out guy who's really just taken too many drugs to drown out the chaos of a wrecked life (which as cliche as that may sound on paper, Brand actually holds substance once the audience realizes that Aldous Snow is extremely self-aware and more mature than all the other characters in the movie).  

Moving away right along from one perceived douchebag to another, let's talk about Jonah Hill! He's not playing the usual scumbag, dirtbag, douchebag character he usually portrays in almost all of his other movies. He's a mid-level, music geek who who doesn't really have any control over anything or anyone around him. And he actually pulls it off adequately. Whoa!

Elisabeth Moss (The West Wing, Mad Men) also has a major role as Jonah Hill's nurse girlfriend and she's just wonderful as always. Just look at her...

Isn't she cute and adorable? And she acts that way too. *sigh*

Finally, let's get back to that P Diddy fellow: P Diddy is actually hilarious (ex: mindfucking and floating head). He is actually truly hilarious. Most of the funniest parts in the entire movie involve him. And everyone just thought he could only be his terrible fake, corporate pushing rapper self. Shame on you (yes, I'm talking to you Jim Mahfood --No disrespect though man-- your art is dope, as is your satire).

(I can say dope if I want to) 

Anyway, Get Him to the Greek pretty much just surprises everyone by showing that Jonah Hill can act, Russel Brand isn't a complete douche, and P Diddy can actually be funny. Take that preconceived notions! Don't judge a book by it's cover and all that jazz (except for Elizabeth Moss -- totally judge her by her cover).

Joel Samson Berntsen (Hjartað hamast (bamm bamm bamm) [The Heart Pounds (Boom Boom Boom)] - Sigur Rós ) 

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World Trailer #2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NUBVcit5VM

Bryan Lee O'Malley's twitter:


radiomaru: today i'm sensing the beginnings of a michael cera backlash backlash

I'm a little iffy on Cera, but everyone else seems perfect.


Joel Samson Berntsen (Baby's On Fire - Brian Eno)

I'm a Big Boi Now

I love Speakerboxxx.

And I like it a lot more than The Love Below. 

And I just had the epiphany that I like Big Boi more than Andre 3000.

And with that realization I'm even more exciting for July 6, 2010, the release of:

 Sir Luscious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty

 Joel Samson Berntsen (Tomb of the Bomb- Outkast)

Let There Be Hope (Sleigh Bells)

Sleigh Bells: Alexis Krauss and Derek Miller

2010 was supposed to be the best year for music ever what with almost everyone of note releasing an album, but we’re almost halfway through the year and we’ve had nothing but lackluster albums with a couple bitch’in tracks. Spoon, The New Pornographers, Los Campesinos!, Gorillaz, David Byrne/Fatboy Slim: all of their efforts have left me sad and crying in a dark corner of my basement, and I’m not talking about that awesome kind of music that actually makes you weep from its sheer sadness, but the kind that makes you just want to go put on one of the bands older records.

But as I look upon the approaching horizon of summer music calendar, my heart swells with a hope that I’ve never felt before, a hope that makes me think that maybe, just maybe, the world won’t be lost to the douchebaggary of Will.I.Am, Owl City, and Train.

Yesterday, I discovered Sleigh Bells full length Treats was officially out and streaming in its complete entirety over at NPR Music blog (http://www.npr.org/music/). Sleigh Bells got kidnapped by M.I.A after they took the internet by storm with a couple tracks that I heard they made in a basement. Everyone fawned over them with pure delight back then, and everyone better damn do it again. Every single track on Treats is completely awesome raw pop music. The overbearing Brooklyn beats trash and bash any sound waves that dare challenge their insanely intoxicating and booming audacity. It’s got the energy of Iggy Pop’s Raw Power coupled with the producing sensibilities of M.I.A. filtered through Alexis Krauss and Derek Miller (Sleigh Bells) raw power to create extraordinaire electro-clash pop music. It’s just pure freaking delight.

Also, the new The Black Key’s Brothers is looking like it’s going to be another blow out success. I even forgive them for having the same album name as my band. (I know we haven’t even practiced but right now it’s just a concept and the concept name was Brothers). LCD Soundsystem’s This Is Happening comes out in five days. And M.I.A. has a brand spankin new album coming in July, as does Big Boi, which takes home best album title of the year Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty. In a bit of side news, Big Boi actually guested on Martha Stewart: http://www.marthastewart.com/article/clip-of-the-day-big-boi. The link is now proving to go to the page and say “false” after a flash. I don’t know what’s up with that, but hopefully that’ll get fix real soon.

You like pictures, right? Cause I sure do.

Joel Samson Berntsen (Rill Rill – Sleigh Bells)

Kick-Ass Review

Article originally written and published in OHS's The Prowl
If you have a problem with profanity, violence and a little girl killing lots of evil men with guns and knives, stop reading this right now; this movie is not for you. Okay, now that we’re rid of those people, let’s talk about one of the most entertaining movies of the year. Take one part “Superbad,” one part “Kill Bill” and one part “Spiderman,” whirl them together, and you’ve got the two hour, pop culture-induced seizure of violent behavior, swearing and hilarity known as “Kick-Ass.”

The movie revolves around the life of Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), a nobody comic geek who’s tired of people just putting up with petty crime and miscreants. So, he orders a scuba wet suit, a set of batons and takes to the streets as a vigilante.  Dave’s just an average guy; however, he doesn’t have any training in fighting crime. So, in his first attempt to stop a mugging, he gets shanked in the stomach, staggers in the street, gets hit by a car and is rushed to the hospital. And it’s absolutely hilarious. The violent slapstick humor constantly rides the line between hilarity and shock, especially once the characters of Big Daddy and Hit Girl are introduced.

On their own personal vendetta against a crime family in New York, Big Daddy (Nicholas Cage) and Hit Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz) are the most entertaining characters in the movie. The pair are pretty much hyper-real versions of Batman and Robin, except they have guns, swear and chop up criminals. Moretz’s electrifyingly outrageous performance as the profanity-spewing, butterfly-knife throwing Hit Girl completely steals the show. Seeing a nine year-old dispatch a gang of cocaine-hustling thugs with a double-bladed karate staff of doom is one of the most absurdly hilarious things to have ever hit the big screen.

“Kick-Ass” has an energy that few movies are able to obtain; it aggressively disregards standard morals and societal constraints, yet still manages to get the audience to side with and care for the violence-prone protagonists. The audience is always rooting for Kick-Ass to kick ass. And he totally does (after getting the living daylights beat out of him about four times).

Joel Samson Berntsen (This Must Be The Place(Naive Melody) - Talking Heads)