Pages tagged “issue 49”

The year’s most compelling rapper by far was Lil Wayne, the tongue-twisting New Orleans savant who never ceased to surprise. To 
illustrate just how unpredictable and outlandish the dude’s year was, we’ve prepared this brief 
retrospective quiz.

Life Among The Have-Nots: Heralded first novel finds gold in grit

Contemporary American novels often feel like extended short stories; notes for bigger books. Nami Mun’s first novel initially appears to fall into this trap, but it eventually escapes. With a gift for momentum, Mun, who grew up in South Korea and Bronx, New York, weaves a narration both dense and floating.

Any music magazine can use its year-end issue to look back on the best of the year that was. But only Paste—using the latest findings from scientists at the Large Hadron Collider—has the technology to foretell the best of the coming year. Gaze with us into the crystal 8 ball as we reveal the secrets of 2009.

Release date (limited): Dec. 26
Director/Producer/Writer: Ari Folman   
Art Director: David Polonsky
Starring: Folman, Ori Sivan
Studio/Run Time: 
Sony Pictures Classics, 87 mins.

Animated “documentary” reclaims darkest memories

As much about memory’s hallucinatory inventions as the facts of the 1982 massacre at a Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut by the so-called Phalangist Christian militia, Ari Folman’s animated Waltz With Bashir begins with 26 barking dogs rushing through a city. From there, the emotional intensity doesn’t let up. Though Folman, a veteran Israeli documentarian, calls Bashir a documentary based on the interviews at its core (mostly with fellow soldiers), his cameras go places the handiest cinematographer could never venture: Beams of light bend between branches during a forest battle; and the dream images of rising naked from the sea—while balls of fire fall from the sky—are just as real as the chasm-like blank spots in Folman’s mind as he reconstructs his mission into Lebanon. Powerful beyond a doubt, especially during a fourth-wall shattering climax, Waltz With Bashir borrows the visualized mind games of Richard Linklater’s recent efforts and dances them to the deep end.

Watch the trailer for Waltz With Bashir:

Release Date: Dec. 19
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Writer: Robert Siegel
Cinematographer: Maryse Alberti
Starring: Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood, Todd Barry
Studio/Run Time: Fox Searchlight, 105 mins.

Powerful film gives viewers something to grapple with

American filmmakers may have rediscovered emotional realism, but no conversion is more surprising than Darren Aronofsky’s. His unadorned portrait of a pro-wrestling has-been is built around a fantastic, physical performance by Mickey Rourke, captured with a documentary style that renders his dingy world all the more strange, funny and heartbreaking. In his own words, he’s “a broken-down piece of meat,” and Rourke, back from actor purgatory, brings ample baggage to the role—including his bulked-up, modified body, his sandpapered larynx and his craving for an unlikely comeback. Randy “The Ram” Robinson can’t keep doing pile drivers forever, especially as the game evolves into something even more brutal, but what else is there? He’s distant from his daughter, but he has a flirtatious, tentative relationship with an aging stripper (Marisa Tomei) who’s facing the same injustice of the ticking clock. The movie, with its dime-store romance, breezy dialogue and telegraphed emotion, feels a bit like a grungier Rocky, but at times the understated attitude, grime and destitution are closer to Raging Bull.

Watch the trailer for The Wrestler:

Flat Baroque And Berserk [63/100]
Stormcock [98/100]
Jugula (with Jimmy Page) [49/100]

Proto-freak-folker finally on CD in the States

With the ubiquity of Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, fellow U.K. guitarist Roy Harper may ring a bell. Zep took their hats off to his folk-guitar chops on III while Floyd had him belt “Have a Cigar” on Wish You Here. None of Harper’s work has been available on CD in the U.S. until now, meaning a new generation of listeners can scratch their heads at why these legendary bands so revered this man.

English Psycho

While No Doubt and Oasis were climbing the charts, fictional antihero Steven Stelfox was on a drunken, coke-fueled rampage through London’s clubs and festivals searching for the next big hit. Kill Your Friends is John Niven’s novel about Stelfox, an A&R guy who is the embodiment of corruption in the music industry. His career is plagued by violence and blind greed, making him Britain’s own version of Patrick Bateman in Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho.

Park at the foot of Music Row. Step into the Nashville sun. Look left, look right. Squint. You miss it the first time, the place you’re trying to find, the stately storefront, the house of Manuel—such a subtle façade, an oyster shell clasped around a pearl.

Hometown: New York
Album: Mothertongue
For Fans Of: Björk, Steve Reich, Bang on a Can

Don’t get Nico Muhly started on categories. Don’t even waste time bringing them up because the composer will ignore any suggestion that boundaries mean anything nowadays, and he’ll plow forward in his rapid-ricochet speaking style on his loves and, amusingly, his hates: “I love the idea of making an album, working within the confines of that fixed unit, which is still how I experience music,” and, “I’m in opposition to Beethoven as he’s done now. It’s like arriving at a bar at 6 p.m. and some drunk is already there and you don’t want to be a part of it. For me, the whole vibe is already set up, and I hate that.”

A look at the dry bones of some sacred cows

In an entertaining, yet clear-eyed manner, Zacharias calls us to examine “sound bite” faith in light of more substantial concerns. The author tells of Christian believers faced with violence, loss and fear who respond with a grace she feels can only come from a faith rooted in God.

Release Date: Dec. 10 (limited)  
Director: Kelly Reichardt
Writer: Jonathan Raymond, Reichardt
Cinematographer: Sam Levy
Starring: Michelle Williams, Walter Dalton, Will Patton  
Studio/Run Time: 
Oscilloscope Pictures, 80 mins.

Minimalist film with emotional depth

The title’s no misnomer—this indie gem is the story of a girl (Michelle Williams as Wendy) and her dog. It’s based on a short story and feels like one—every thread that’s separated is woven back in. But the fact that the simple construct yields such a rich world is a triumph, thanks in no small part to director Kelly Reichardt’s hawk-like narrative focus and good casting sense. Wendy is a drifter on the road with little more than an old Honda, a dwindling supply of $20s strapped to her body, and her canine companion Lucy. Williams’ award-worthy restraint lets us feel far more than the dialogue offers. Wendy is heading to Alaska to work at a fish cannery, but when her car breaks down in small-town Oregon, she’s forced to face the rules of society. And as someone on the fringe, the costs and consequences are higher, even if the crimes are lower. Wendy’s ultimate decision is gut-wrenching, a reminder that desperation often leads to our greatest acts of love—and loss.

Watch the trailer for Wendy and Lucy:

Release Date: Nov. 11
Director: Jack Gulick and Daniel E. Catullo III
Editor: Justin Coloma     
Starring: Billy Corgan
Studio/Run Time: Coming Home Media, 271 mins.

Double-disc chronicles recent reunion of seminal alternative band

When Smashing Pumpkins reunited in 2007 (with only two original members, Billy Corgan and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin), cynics wrote it off as a cash-in. But bands looking for a quick buck don’t neglect their classic hits for punishing new rock songs and beautiful acoustic material with increasingly sophomoric lyrics (their frequent superimposition on the screen—in calligraphy, no less—doesn’t do them any favors). And they definitely don’t insist on playing excruciating half-hour noise-rock jams like “Gossamer.” This portrait of Corgan strives to be flattering and intimate, but the two are at odds. He spends half of his time in a nightgown, fuming over ancient slights, nursing his outsized messiah complex and commensurate neediness (his assistant, in a 
casual aside, mentions that he sometimes calls her “Mommy”). He seems at ease only when his long fingers are effortlessly coaxing impossible chords from his guitar.

Watch the trailer for If All Goes Wrong:

Hometown: Los Angeles
Album: Morning Tide
Band Members [L-R]: Brian Reyes (bass, keys, vocals), David Esau (drums), Ian Moreno (guitar), Ed Reyes (vocals, guitar), Lee LaDouceur (keys)
For Fans Of: Electric Light Orchestra, The Beach Boys, power-pop band Shoes

Ed Reyes can keep a secret. During his recent time spent working in the music industry—as a Maverick Records intern, executive assistant to producer Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, and then an A&R assistant at Warner Bros.—the sly singer/guitarist cloaked his real objective: a contract for The Little Ones, his jangly power-pop combo. Why didn’t he ask his bosses for help? “I really wanted people to know me for my work, and not have them thinking I was only there to get signed,” he says. “So I kept it hush-hush until we ended up getting signed to Astralwerks and press started picking up on the band.”

Release Date: Dec. 9
Producers: Ed Burns, Joe Chappelle, Robert F. Colesberry, Nina K. Noble, George Pelecanos, David Simon, Karen L. Thorson
Writers: Simon, Burns, Chris Collins, Pelecanos, Richard Price, Dennis Lehane, David Mills, William F. Zorzi

Starring: Dominic West, Idris Elba, Aidan Gillen, Michael K. Williams, Andre Royo, John Doman, Frankie R. Faison, Jim True-Frost, Sonja Sohn, Lance Reddick, Jamie Hector, JD Williams, Felicia Pearson, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Chris Bauer
Studio: HBO

Crime series does pay... huge emotional dividends

My only real complaint about HBO’s full-series box set of The Wire—the groundbreaking series about drug dealers, detectives, dock workers, students, reporters and pretty much everyone else in Baltimore—is the timing. This cinder block of a set, including 23 DVDs and an abundance of commentaries and features (many previously released on the series sets), arrives just months after the show’s final heart-rending, mind-blowing episode in March. It’s a handsome, thorough and well-appointed cap to the show’s amazing run, but like many others, I’m just not ready for it to be over and done with.

Album: Swim
Hometown: Los Angeles
Band Members: Morgan Nagler (vocals, guitar), Tod Adrian Wisenbaker (guitar, drums), Vanesa Corbala (vocals, percussion), Casey Holden Wisenbaker (bass, drums)
For Fans Of: Cat Power, CocoRosie, Rilo Kiley

Whispertown 2000 frontwoman Morgan Nagler travels with an inflatable mattress. She used to live in a two-bedroom tent in her mother's back yard. She slept under a dining room table when the band shared a Los Angeles apartment, and she currently calls a converted laundry room home. Even her drawl is versatile and free-flowing, shifting a line like “tell everyone I’m done with love” from nonchalance to concern with a fluid change of timbre. And her band’s influences? All over the place. “Tod and Casey are very punk,” says vocalist Vanesa Corbala. “I came from a Hispanic background and Morgan grew up listening to Joni Mitchell. We like everything from Dr. Dre to The Beatles.”

Our favorite festive bits of whatever.

Embattled husband-and-wife duo’s last independent-label recordings

Given Tina Turner’s claims about then-husband Ike’s abusive behavior, listening to this collection is downright chilling. When she sings Otis Redding’s “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long,” the pain and desperation in her voice are genuine. The ad-libbed vocal, “sock it to me, baby”—which she shrieks repeatedly toward song’s end—evokes violence both physical and sexual. The songs that comprise Sing The Blues (recorded by the Turners for indie label Blue Thumb in the late ’60s) are extremely telling: “Mean Old World,” “Five Long Years,” “I Smell Trouble,” Jimmy Reed’s “Baby What You Want Me To Do’” (here called “You Got Me Running”). Ike’s reprehensible treatment of Tina—echoed in the subject matter of these songs—frequently overshadowed his contributions as a rock ’n’ roll innovator and first-rate bandleader. But Tina’s instantly identifiable voice (slightly nasal, with a powerful, cutting urgency) was the perfect musical companion for his inspired guitar work, mirroring the sharp-toned licks he yanked from his six-string on this pre-crossover material. The embattled couple’s tragic yet potent dynamic is at full-tilt on Sing, their raw, chitlin’-circuit-style blues even more affecting than the danceable pop and soul that made them famous.

Sample tracks from Ike And Tina Turner's Sing the Blues at the Acrobat Records site.

DVD Release Date: Dec. 2
Director: Samuel Fuller
Writers: Fuller, Curtis Hanson     
Cinematographer: Bruce Surtees
Starring: Kristy McNichol, Paul Winfield
Studio/Run Time: Paramount, 90 mins.

Canine race exploration finally released on DVD

Even with the presidential election behind us, America’s issues with race won’t be going away anytime soon. Take, for example, Samuel Fuller’s 1982 film White Dog, previously only available as a bootleg until this Criterion edition. Over his 30-plus-year career, Fuller never shied from brutal topics, always challenging the studio system—whether with films about prostitution, insane asylums or the savagery of war. But this story about a dog trained to attack and kill black people was unceremoniously shelved by Paramount for over two decades. Past the shock of its premise, it’s a relatively straight-ahead tale, wherein a dog, rescued by McNichol, turns out to be a savage racist. Animal trainer Winfield is determined to re-program this four-legged killer and prove that a change can come.

Watch the teaser trailer for White Dog:

Behind the tasting bar of Mission Wines, a South Pasadena wine shop with hardwood floors, Maynard James Keenan is slurping his wine. No really, it’s his wine. The reclusive frontman for prog-metal bands Tool and A Perfect Circle is drinking Tazi, a light blend of sauvignon blanc, chardonnay and other grapes from his own Arizona Stronghold Vineyards. The scene is slightly surreal, given that this is the guy who wrote and sang songs called “Prison Sex” and “Hooker with a Penis.”

Members: (L-R) Ben Knox Miller, Jeff Prystowsky and Jocie Adams (not pictured, Cyrus Scofield)
Album: Oh My God, Charlie Darwin 
For Fans Of: Nick Drake, Joe Henry, Gary Jules

Tinker and Evers. Reese and Robinson. Trammel and 
Whitaker. All of baseball’s great double-play duos moved in a way that was almost musical. Ben Knox Miller and Jeff Prystowsky extended those harmonies from the baseball diamond to an actual band.

Who are Vito and Monique Aiuto? Simple church folk suddenly clamoring for hipster cred? A Sufjan Stevens project masquerading under a new moniker? Are they simple-minded reactionaries? Or simply a Presbyterian minister and his wife, taking a break from tending their flock to play some heartfelt religious tunes?

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Manhattan might have St. Patrick’s, Trinity and St. John the Divine, yet it’s Brooklyn that’s called “the borough of churches.” Climbing up from the G Train at Greenpoint Avenue, you’d have to be blind to miss the block’s focal point—St. Anthony of Padua, a Roman Catholic church that visually anchors this largely Polish but rapidly changing neighborhood with its red brick, white limestone, gothic arches and 240-foot spire.

David Lynch once called film “a magical medium that allows you to dream in the dark.” Walking the carpeted hallways and miniature lobbies of a Times Square megaplex, then, is like stealing between people's private visions. I've paid $12.50 for admission into a movie theater with lax security, giving me freedom to roam the various screenings, and the movies I see constitute a Lynchian avant-garde composite. I glance at the audience’s faces before I sit. It’s comforting to see people laugh at the same time at the same punchline; comforting that an emotional majority can still be measured inside a multiplex.

Rambling foot notes

Geoff Nicholson’s latest encyclopedic investigation into an ordinary activity (Sex Collectors was his last) is a strolling, strutting, occasionally limping look at bipedalism. A droll Brit, the author is Bill Bryson with better legs and less interest in walking—or narrating—along straight lines.

The irony of Bay Shore Furriers and Leather Salon is that, while it’s the only building on the block that survived a fire six years ago, nobody seems to remember the lanky kid whose parents opened the store in the 1940s. He played linebacker for the junior-varsity team in the then-prosperous south-shore Long Island town, boxed groceries, graduated in 1947 and never really returned.

D&D escape fantasy for the masses

Around 1975, my cousins and I invented the core element of the modern role-playing game. Alongside the Powe brothers—Joe, David and Mike—I imagined myself in worlds overrun by spies, pirates, giant monsters and superheroes. Superheroes were the troublemakers, as arguments over whose character was stronger, faster or (pardon the grammar) more invulnerable during some imaginary battle often derailed anything resembling play. Our solution: We assigned numbers, one to 25, to describe just how super the Tarantula was versus, say, Cerebrus. Play resumed, and all was right with the worlds.

To be fair, the success of Brandon Flowers and co. has always relied on their sounding—and looking—a little other. On their chart-topping 2004 debut, Hot Fuss, the Vegas-based band seized on past trends like New Wave and glitzy ’70s/’80s glam rock, applying their own twist, and plenty of eyeliner. It was a surprise coup, but they established themselves as the “the” band of the mid 2000s and seemed poised to take over the music scene.

Creedence Clearwater Revival (79)
Bayou Country (94)
Green River (96)
Willy and the Poor Boys (87)
Cosmo’s Factory (90)
Pendulum (68)

Four decades later, CCR’s classic albums sip like the smoothest of ’shine

Creedence Clearwater Revival was a commercial juggernaut, with nine Top 10 hits between 1969-71, even outselling The Beatles in 1969. Although encamped right across the bay from San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury, CCR never injected the slightest hint of peace, love and understanding into its canon. The band had a different inspiration. The strange subterranean world of an imagined South—twisted, eerie and nefarious—inflamed John Fogerty’s mind with images of voodoo ceremonies under gnarled trees dripping with Spanish moss and portent. A fan of horror flicks and Edgar Allan Poe, he urged his band to cover Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ “I Put A Spell On You,” penned the dirge freakout “Gloomy,” and put a brittle bite into Dale Hawkins’ “Susie Q,” adding dirty, side-winding guitar that slithered into Fogerty’s heart of darkness for an extended jam.

“Best Music Scene.” It’s a slightly absurd claim and unprovable to boot. But before you fire off that missive defending [insert your city here] as more vital and creative than Denton, allow me to refine the argument: Denton, Texas, is simply the paradigm of a healthy music community.

Check out Paste's top 50 albums of 2008...