James Blake: "James Blake" Review — A

Originally published for The Maneater 

Looking back over 2010, James Blake covered a whole lot of ground in a very short time, releasing a new EP almost quarterly.

And while his varying EPs did a great job at advertising Blake's multi-faceted production chops, they also displayed just how ambitious Blake is with his music, trying out new styles and techniques with each EP. The new year brings a Blake that's finally ready to play with a complete studio album — he's practiced and experimented, and now the London dub-stepper stands prepared to unveil his first full album, the self-titled James Blake.

There's a very tranquil quality that echoes through Blake's debut. The intrinsic layering of the production arranged with heart-breaking voice of Blake, stirs the mind both with emotional unease and satisfaction. In "Lindisfarne I," Blake somehow manages to make auto-tuning sound soothing to the ear. There's freshness to Blake's music, and while the sound might be sparse, an emotional intensity still looms throughout the album.

Blake's production drips with the genius of an unconventional scientist. He takes the aspects of other genres — thunderous back drums of dance music, beats that'd usually be found on a rap album, auto-tuning — and mixes them into a calming blend of emotionally taught music. The build up to the climax of "I Never Learnt to Share" develops to one of the most stirring culminations of any song in recent years, reaching the point of comparability to the beginning of LCD Soundsystem's "Dance Yrself Clean."

It's a rare occurrence that an artist can pump out music at break-neck speed without comprising quality, but somehow Blake has mastered the art of quick, smart production. Blake's debut is a breath of fresh air, and more than that proves the extent of Blake's musical genius and shows he's quite a bit more than just a producer — he's a pioneer.



Joel Samson Berntsen (Good Moanin - Dead Meadow)

Really, Probably the Best Music Video... Ever

Your Friendly, Neighborhood Hipster: The Indie-fication of Peter Parker & Spider-man

Spider-man is getting rebooted, and man, I am freaking ecstatic.

I liked the first two Raimi-Maquire Spider-man films, but — especially with Spider-man 3 — the time to bring in new creators to do a fresh rendition of the Spider-man saga is a long time coming. And the powers that be have assembled one sick crew to take out this latest version.

Hello Marc Webb, yes, you can totally sign on to direct “Untitled Spider-man Reboot”. Name sound familiar? Odds are you’ve probably seen one of the fifty music videos he’s directed over the past ten years. Or maybe you’ve seen (500) Days of Summer? The film that was turned into a hit through the backing and love of a generation. There’s one consistent quality that defines Webb: clever. Clever, over and over; his videos show it, (500) Days especially shows it. I mean just look at this old MCR music video, it’s just goofy fun. And the main aspect that has to be right in a Spider-man film? Spider-man has to be smart-ass. Webb’s got that in the bag no sweat.

And then Andrew Garfield signed on. Some consider him to be the best part of the Social Network (I’m one of those people), most consider him a really hot British import (mostly girls). Either way, he’s talented and attractive. And he clearly has the ability to make little quip-y remarks while bashing people up, and he certainly as the capacity to act like a angst-filled teenager (this Spider-man is going to be set in high school). If you don’t really understand what I’m saying just go see The Social Network — really, again if you’ve seen it before. There’s not really anyone I can think of that be better to play Peter Parker than Garfield.

And then they got Emma Stone to play Gwen Stacy, who’s proven more than once that she can be a witty love interest (Superbad, Zombieland, Easy A). Also, did you know she’s a natural blond? Really, she is. Then they got Martin Sheen to play Ben Parker and Sally Field (Mrs. Gump in Forest Gump, the mom in Steel Magnolias) to play May Parker, Peter’s main parental figures and in pretty much every way the perfect parent figures. This really is the best casting ever. I’m not even pissed that Denis Leary is playing Gwen’s Dad. Mostly because I know he’s the perfect guy to play a New York dad and Police officer, and I don’t think I hate any more than Dennis Leary expect for, like, one other person in the world.

Even the villain — Dr. Curt Conners, the lizard — is perfect based solely on the fact that Spider-man and a man sized lizard can totally just slug it out in an even, fist to fist fight (plus claws, tail, and webbing).

But the main thing I’m curious about Spider-man-teen-version; is Peter Parker going to listen to New Order or The Smiths and longingly look at Gwen? Is the soundtrack going to be a little indie mix-tape, and is there going to be little references to Springsteen and epiphanies resulting from watching The Graduate? Is this going to be Spider-man saturated with a substantial amount of pop-culture references? I sure hope so. As a pop-culture nerd and comic nerd, that’s pretty much my dream. Webb has worked with music pretty much all his career and the soundtrack for (500) Days soundtrack has become synonymous with the film. So, I assume the soundtrack will be at least feature some sort of indie-collection of pretty cool tracks.

Maquire does not get this Smiths reference.

At this time, I just want to say — despite using the word twice in the previous paragraph and in the title — I hate using the word indie as an adjective. Yet, I’m using it here. I’m a hypocrite sometimes.

Anyway, the cast and crew of “Untitled Spider-man Reboot” are doing a very smart thing: they’re keeping the film unconventional. They’re not going with the traditional villains and Mary Jane isn’t around. And by staying away from the norms, they’re freeing themselves from the limitations of the expectations placed by the previous films, which is a smart, smart move. They can carve out their own story and play to their own abilities without the worry of comparison. Oh, those smart people… I’m smiling right now.

And with that, I wait for the film. Just like all of you. I hope you’re excited as I am.

Joel Samson Berntsen (Friendly Ghost - Harlem)   

Complicated Viking's Top Five Films of 2010

1. The Kids Are Alright

A perfect title for a perfect film: truly heartbreaking and heartwarming. Also, hilarious.

2. Toy Story 3

Again: generation-defining, animated prison breakout movie with babydoll Leatherface.

3. The Social Network

Aaron Sorkin, David Fincher, Jesse Eisenberg: the dream team, the dream movie.

4. The King's Speech (please ignore clip if seeing film in the next month)

An extremely-likable film of personal triumph: never bores, always entertains.

5. 127 Hours

An instantly enthralling movie that works the material like a high-class commercial.

And that's all folks. Here's to another great year.

Joel Samson Berntsen (Smith Westerns - Imagine, Pt. 3)

Wavves on the Best Coast: Cali-fuse Couple

Wavves and Best Coast are dating, or maybe I should say Bethany Cosentino and Nathan Williams are dating, but really, they're the leaders of their bands, right? So, Best Coast and Wavves are dating and did a Christmas song together. Good gracious, it's just kind of adorable, kind of like, Snacks, Cosentino's cat, who has a fucking twitter.


There's a whole star-crossed, Californian lovers angle to all this. Both Cosentino and Williams are from Cali, they both toke up, they both had albums come out last year and both those albums had cats on them, and both their albums got an 8.4 on Pitchfork. God, I hope they don't die in each other's arms, or at least not for, like, fifty years.

Bethany Cosentino stealthily rose to be one of my favorite people of 2010. First, I was all, "whoa, super cool, lovelorn beach music." Then, I was all, "oh gee, she's got a raw-ass, hilarious twitter and she likes iCarly." Then I finally listened to Wavves, and was like, "dude's on point." Then I found Williams's twitter which is just as, if not more, amusing.

Bethany Cosentino is the female Kanye West of Twitter. She's raw ("Oh I hate Katy Perry so much, you do not represent California girls, bitch."), slightly vulnerable ("Watching icarly, missing @wavveswavves"), and almost always entertaining ("Nevermind I found my sweater! And I will never drink four loko again! Recipe for disaster!"). And so is Nathan Williams. I would say he's the white, weedy, version of Kanye, but now it's feels somewhat belittling constantly comparing one person to another. They're all relentless entertaining individuals, pitching their thoughts strait with no filters. Williams, also has got me really wanting to play Fifa 2011 (the soccer game).

SNACKS WILL DEVOUR KITTY PURRY

Another example, take Williams, who was arrested in Germany a couple months back. This was his press release:

"We got stopped at a roadside check and I had six bags in the car and they only found one-- the fucking dogs never work. I bet it's high from all the fumes. Anyways, they put me in a cell which was a little nerve-wracking. More so because I was an American in a German jail and not because I have long gay hair. I did wrestle for four years in high school, so I could have fucked somebody up. So yeah, then I gave em €200 and walked out... not a terrible deal. And now I'm getting high again."

See, totally raw, hilarious entertainment.

There's this secret, evil-side to me though, that secretly hopes that they get blissfully married in a year or so and release a joint album of awesome, weed positivity, but then, one ugly year after that, they get bitterly divorced and then they'll both make super-depressing break-up albums. And, as some know, depression fuels some of the best bands/albums ever i.e. Joy Division, The Smiths, etc. It'd be amazing, right? I'm seeking help.
 
Back to entertainment aspect of all this though, how engaging would a reality series on those two be? Just let the cameras follow them around. Like, Wavves / Best Coast just had a four day stint in Vegas. They were gambling, ordering room service, yelling at each other for winning. Reality TV could actually be good. MTV PAY ATTENTION TO THIS: there's the actual the possibliltity to create reality programming that has entertaining, music involvement. Though, there is the whole Wavves and Best Coast actually agreeing to participate in this programming, which seems slim, but one can hope, right? Maybe a mini-series at least? On PBS? I can and will dream about this.

Anyway, Best Coast & Wavves, they rip it up. PLEASE COME BACK TO STL GUYS.

You can find Nathan Williams aka Wavves at @wavveswavves.



You can find Bethony Costello aka Best Coast at @bestycoastyy.



Joel Samson Berntsen (King of the Beach - Wavves)

Daniel Radcliffe and the Burgeoning Career

My sole experience with Harry Potter is the Harry Potter movies, and I’m totally ok with that as long as there are still Harry Potter movies coming out. I mean, I’d rather watch the films subjectively as films rather than having to compare them to the books. The problem with this is that I find that my liking of the movies pretty much depends on how much specific characters show up.  I love the Harry Potter for the three following reasons.

1.       Alan Rickman

2.       Gary Oldman

3.       Emma Watson

But mostly just the first two reasons: I will never be satisfied with the amount of screen-time Snape or Sirius Black gets, especially now that Sirius up and got murdered by his bitch cousin Bellatrix Lestrange, which, on a related note, I should say I don't really care if Voldemort is defeated in the final movie; I just want to see Bellatrix wiped off the face of the fucking earth in the bloodiest way possible. Watson I mostly just like cause she looks cute and has smart costume design. 

So, what about Harry Potter? Y’know, the title character of the entire series? Well, he’s alright. I like him enough that I’m interested in what’s happening, but Radcliffe is far more interesting to me as a future actor than as Harry. I can’t wait for his next batch of movies because he’s proven time and time again that he’s not afraid to try new things. Example number one: Extras

Example two: He did horse porn. And by horse porn I mean he posed naked with horses. Stemming from an acclaimed role as a stable boy in Equus in which he briefly appeared naked with horses, Radcliffe agreed to pose for an Anne Liebovitz book named Nude. Did this have a negative impact on his career? Not at all. He’s Harry freaking Potter and he posed stark naked with a horse for the sake of art? Somebody give that man a medal. He had the audacity to risk public disgrace and ridicule for art. That takes some balls (no pun intended). What other cards does Radcliffe have up his sleeve? For all we know, he could be the next Dennis Hopper just waiting for the next David Lynch to cast him as that deranged, pimp monster with mommy issues.  

Werewolves ain't got shit on Radcliffe.

Example three: as mentioned earlier, he’s appeared on stage, but I didn't mention that one of those plays was The Play That I Wrote directed by the almost always wonderful Kenneth Branagh (one of the better things my parents introduced me to). I’m impressed by anyone who can do stage work, but  the fact that he went on to take on more challenging roles (i.e. horse obsessed stable boy) makes Radcliffe even more impressive. Plus, a play directed by Branagh? That’s gold for just about anyone.

The list goes on and on… He spent sixth months working on an Australian accent for a movie he joined specifically because he wanted just a supporting role in a movie. For sweet’s sake, his favorite band is The Hold Steady, a band that played mostly drunk in Columbia, Missouri just a couple of weeks ago. Prepare yourself, world, Harry's gonna take over, and it's hopefully going to be awesome, or at least moderately entertaining and enlightening.    

Joel Samson Berntsen (Kim & Jesse - M83)

The Year in Review: A Complicated Viking Tale...'s 2010 Music Lists of Lisztomania

Top 10 Albums of the 2010 (according to me)

10. The New Pornographers - Together
9. Vampire Weekend - Contra
8. Yeasayer - Odd Blood 
7. Robyn – Body Talk
6. Best Coast – Crazy For You
5. Sleigh Bells – Treats
4. Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty
3. LCD Soundsystem - This Is It  
2. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today
1. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Noted albums I have not listened to: Drake - Thank Me Later, Joanna Newson - Have One On Me, Girls - Broken Dreams Club EP, Wavves - King Of The Beach The Walkman - Lisbon, or Deerhunter - Halycon Digest. Forgive Me.

My 30 Favorite Songs of 2010

I'm New Here: also the winner of Best Album Design.

I'm going to try to add more as the week goes on as to why I've picked these songs, but for now I'm just trying to get my official list out there before before music juggernaut Pitchfork publishes their best songs of 2010 list. Here's mine...

30. Little Lion Man - Mumford and Sons
29.  Need You Know - Lady Antebellum

28. Bottled In Cork - Ted Leo and the Pharmacists

27. Written In Reverse - Spoon  

26. Dancing On My Own - Robyn
25. I Feel Better - Hot Chip

24. Zebra - Beach House    

23. Beverly Kills - Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti  

22. U Should Know Better - Robyn (Feat. Snoop Dogg)

21. Not In Love - Crystal Castles (Feat. Robert Smith)
20. Cousins - Vampire Weekend
19. Janelle Monáe (Feat. Big Boi) – “Tightrope”
18. Only Girl (In The World) - Rihanna

17. Drunk Girls - LCD Soundsystem

16. DJ Got Us Falling In Love Again - Usher
15. In The Sun - She & Him
14. Fever Dreaming - No Age
13. Weekend - Smith Westerns 

12. We Used To Wait - Arcade Fire  

11. Afraid of Everyone - The National  

10. Hell Of A Life - Kanye West

There's a weird moment when hearing a track for the first time when there's an "oh maaaaann this is amazing" moment, and then the chorus comes in with "no more drugs for me / pussy and religion is all I need" and then Hell Of A Life becames one of the top songs of the year. And it just gets better with each listen. The beat, the song, Kanye West... I think I just fell in love with a Superstar.

9. Shutterbugg - Big Boi
8. O.N.E. - Yeasayer

7. Rill Rill - Sleigh Bells

6. Boyfriend - Best Coast

5. Hang With Me (acoustic) - Robyn
4. Round and Round - Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti
3. Dance Yrself Clean - LCD Soundsystem
2. Runaway - Kanye West 

Without a doubt I believe that Runwaway is the most important song of 2010, and on top of it being the most important it's also totally fucking awesome. It's an anthem of redemption, and it's an anthem for anyone who's ever fucked up. The fact that the full version is nine minutes long doesn't even bother me. It's one of those songs that applies to pretty much everyone, but still feels deeply personal every time it pops on.

1. I'm New Here - Gil Scott Heron

Never in my life have I had such a personal reaction to song. It's my favorite song of 2010 because it's the most personal song of 2010, at least to me it is. It's not the "applies to almost everyone song" that like Runwaway; it's a song that feels like it was written to me. The first time I listened the it I almost cried. The second time I did cry. It's that rare instance when a song gathers so much meaning over your life that it's scary, and in three minutes and thirty-three freaking seconds. What more can I say? I cried. The End. 

Joel Samson Berntsen (Pretty Girls Make Graves - The Smiths)

Guitarist Johnny Marr Repudiates British Prime Minister's Right To Enjoy The Smiths

British Prime Minister David Cameron apparently loves The Smiths, and Modest Mouse, and Johnny Marr. From the various heated responses to this news it seems like it's something similar to if Glenn Beck said he liked Radiohead.

Hopefully, he's better than Beck, but I have no head for politics, so I'm not even going to head in that direction. 

But it does seem like Cameron has decent taste, at least according to this brief anecdote from Neil McCormick (via The Telegraph): "When I ran into David Cameron at the BBC once, I asked him what was the last CD he bought. Without a moment’s hesitation, he named a new album from an obscure American band called Modest Mouse, who had been working with Morrissey’s old Smiths’ collaborator Johnny Marr (who played every date on Red Wedge’s original tour). I am not sure what credibility it gives him to tackle global economic meltdown, but he is certainly the hippest party leader."

As Jack Torrance would say "Heeere's Johnny!"

I don't know what's weirder, a musically hip politician or the fact that Modest Mouse is "an obscure American band". 

Johnny Marr's reacted on his twitter saying "David Cameron, stop saying that you like The Smiths, no you don't. I forbid you to like it." Hilarious.

Cameron said at an earlier date, in response to the news of his Smiths love  “I’m sure when Morrissey finds that he’s getting an endorsement from the leader of the Conservative Party, he will think ‘Heaven knows I’m miserable now’. But I’m a big fan, I’m afraid. Sorry about that.”

Well, no real conclusions from this except I really enjoy British music, my parents really enjoy British Television, and David Cameron really enjoys Johhny Marr, as does composer Hans Zimmer who tapped Marr to play guitar for the Inception soundtrack. Actually, real conclusion: Johnny Marr is the secret ingredient that helps ignite moments of creative genius i.e. The Queen is Dead, We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank, and The Inception Soundtrack. Cheers, Johnny.

Joel Samson Berntsen (Objects Of My Affection - Peter Bjorn & John)