Three Cheers for Nell Robinson
There are few things more inspiring than following your dreams. In the case of California musician Nell Robinson, her dreams started at age 45. After 30 years of singing in the car to herself, the Alabama-raised singer-songwriter finally stepped onto the stage and now, five years removed from that watershed moment, she has released On the Brooklyn Road, an engaging and homespun collection of 12 bluegrass and country gems. Read more…
Oregon Band Priory is One to Watch
With all this talk about the year’s best albums, it is time to focus on one album few if any people are talking about, but one that should most certainly be included in the honorable mention discussion. Said disc is the self-titled debut album from Portland, OR indie folk quartet Priory. Read more…
The Top 30 Albums of the Year
1. Bon Iver – Bon Iver
2. My Morning Jacket – Circuital
3. Lykke Li – Wounded Rhymes
4. Florence and the Machine – Ceremonials
5. St. Vincent – Strange Mercy
6. Other Lives – Tamer Animals
7. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
8. The Antlers – Burst Apart
9. Portugal the Man – In the Mountain in the Cloud
10. Frank Turner – England Keep My Bones
11. Radiohead – King of Limbs
12. Yuck – Yuck
13. Explosions in the Sky – Take Care, Take Care, Take Care
14. Eisley – The Valley
15. The Drums – Portamento
16. Danger Mouse and Danielle Luppi – Rome
17. Noah and the Whale – Last Night on Earth
18. Okkervil River – I Am Very Far
19. Pepper Rabbit – Red Velvet Snow Ball
20. Scattered Trees – Sympathy
21. City and Colour – Little Hell
22. Sims – Bad Time Zoo
23. Smith Westerns – Dye it Blonde
24. Starfucker – Reptilians
25. The Vaccines – What Did You Expect From the Vaccines?
26. tUnE-yArDs – w h o k i l l
27. Wilco – The Whole Love
28. Laura Marling – A Creature I Don’t Know
29. The Middle East – I Want That You Are Always Happy
30. Coldplay – Mylo Xyloto
The Top 30 Movies of the Year
Below is my collection of the best 30 movies I’ve seen this year. Now please take into account a good chunk of some of the year’s most talked about films are not on this list. Unfortunately I have yet to see War Horse, The Artist, The Grey Lady, My Week With Marilyn, Warrior and others, but for new here’s the list.
1. Tree of Life
2. The Descendants
3. Margin Call
4. Hugo
5. Melancholia
6. Contagion
7. Senna
8. The Debt
9. J. Edgar
10. Bill Cunningham New York
11. Young Adult
12. Project Nim
13, Higher Ground
14. Klitschko
15. The Future
16. Midnight in Paris
17. Tabloid
18. Le Havre
19. Dragonslayer
20. Cedar Rapids
21. 50/50
22. The Company Men
23. Queen of the Sun
24. One Lucky Elephant
25. Queen to Play
26. Little Sparrows
27. Win Win
28. Sarah’s Key
29. Ceremony
30. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Texas Band Speak is One To Watch
It’s no secret that the Austin, TX music scene is ripe with talent, and the latest example of that is the electro-pop outfit Speak. On their 10-length effort Believe in Everything (Modern Art Records) the group tackles guitar-laden rock (”Wars,” and “Firecracker,”) as well as synth-infected dance gems (”Carrie,” “I’d Rather Lie”) and the falsetto-laden “Stand By Us.” Vocalist Troupe Grammage revisits his youth on the hip-shaking “81,” and gets downright serious on the ruminative “A Little Way,” and the cerebral album closer “Too Afraid.” All in all, it’s an inspiring and heady listen.
Remedy Drive Keeps Jangle Pop Alive
Why has jangly guitar pop become so outdated? In the late 90s bands like Dishwalla, Tonic, Toad the Wet Sprocket and GIn Blossoms made a killing from earnest, simple jangly guitar pop. But these days, the genre is nearly as extinct as the cassette tape. But thankfully, there are a few purveyors of the genre still working hard at their craft.
One such example is the Nashville, TN-based Christian band Remedy Drive and their latest EP Light Makes a Way is a compelling listen. Unlike most Christian outfits, the band steers clear of worship and praise, and drives at uplifting and ebullient tunes. Album opener “Light Makes a Way” Second track “Hold On,” offers more of the same, while “Don’t Wait Too Long,” tries to take a stab at radio charts but falters. In truth, “Don’t Wait Too Long,” is the EP’s only real disappointment on the EP. Fourth song “Follow Me” is a lullaby for vocalist David Zach’s son and proof that the band is equally adept at ballads as rockers. The EP closes out with “Disappear,” a combination of “Light Makes a Way,” and “Don’t Wait Too Long,” that closes out the disc nicely.
In the end, this EP is a neat little listen and a strong reminder of why once upon a time this kind of music was dominating airwaves.
Finnish Film Le Havre is Indeed Oscar Worthy
One of the year’s best and most under-the-radar foreign films is Aki Kaurismaki’s Le Havre. The Finnish director’s 17th feature film is a simple and touching dramedy about a shoeshiner in the titular French port city who befriends an immigrant child.
Much like the French film Welcome, profiled in this blog earlier this year, Le Havre is a bare-bones narrative that spins a timeless and all-too-important yarn with tenderness, honesty and very few, if any flaws. Andre Wills as Marcel, the shoeshiner protagonist is absolutely enchanting, while Jean-Pierre Darrousin as Inspector Monet, hot on Marcel’s trail is menacing, devilish and downright spellbinding. Equally as strong is newcomer Blondin Miguel, who plays Idrissa, the immigrant child. Though his scenes are few and his speaking lines even less, his winning turn is the arrival of a burgeoning new talent.
As with most films, much of the appeal is the manner in which it was filmed and Kaurismaki’s longtime cinematographer Timo Salminen does absolute wonders with this taut and telling script. Vivid, vibrant and incredibly authentic, Salminen’s work behind the camera matches well with the film’s ragtime soundtrack.
What makes Le Havre so important is that it serves three purposes. First and foremost it is an exquisite character study of two vastly different people and how the vagaries of life can bind them together. Secondly its an absorbing and all-too-important look at life in a European port city. This last point is of particular importance because Kaurismaki has gone on record as saying he hopes Le Havre serves as the opening salvo in a trilogy about life in European port cities. And lastly, Le Havre is a rich and deeply nuanced look at the life of immigrants in France and the daily hardships they must endure.
With an armful of homages to earlier French films, Kaurismaki’s personal heroes and even some of Kaurismaki’s earlier work, the oft-jocular and whimsical delight is a cinephile’s dream.
Le Havre is only Kaurismaki’s second French film and was the recipient of the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, the Gold Hugo at the Chicago International Film Festival and a top prize at the Munich International Film Festival. The last of the film’s accolades is that has been nabbed as Finland’s entry into the 2011 Academy Awards for Best Foreign Film. And ff it’s up to this blogger, come February, the award is Kaurismaki’s to lose.
Tasted Menu Launches in Boston
Boston foodies have a new reason to celebrate! The innovative new social networking site Tasted Menu has launched in Beantown. The braintrust of Harvard Business School graduate Alex Rosenfeld, the site offers an amalgam of food links and the like and utilizes a Facebook-like feed. One can imagine if TastedMenu finds success in Boston, the site will probably move to the New York market and from there its expansion knows no bounds. Here’s to the a new revolution in dining out and social networking. Cheers!
Klitschko is the Best Sports Movie of the Year
Forget Moneyball. Forget Senna. Forget Warrior. The best sports movie of the year is Broadview Picture’s Klitschko, a two-hour documentary about the Ukrainian brothers Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko, who have both carried the banner of world heavyweight champion.
In the world of boxing, the Klitschkos are an anomaly. Freakishly tall, undeniably intelligent, mild-mannered and clean-cut, they are the children of a military father and a working mother. Born in present-day Khazakhstan, the boys grew up mostly in Kiev and were trained in a kickboxing gym. After showing unrivaled acumen for the sport, they started training in Germany and soon took to boxing like a duck to water. It is from there that their careers were shaped and the Klitschko brothers began their road to world prominence.
More than just a year-by-year synopsis of their careers, Klitschko examines what makes the brothers so talented, their drive to be their best and their unwavering dedication to the sport, including not one, but two comebacks. As much a testament to their Soviet upbringing, the film is also a look at how Germany embraced the brothers as their own, and how in turn, the brothers looked to the nation as their true second home.
German director Sebastian Denhart makes his feature-length directorial debut after more than two decades directing TV series back in Germany. Those two decades behind the lens have certainly paid off as the film moves effortlessly and seamlessly from frame to frame. Sprinkled with interview from many of the Klitschko brothers’ competitors, as well as archived home footage, and many of the Klitschko brothers’ German and Russian trainers, the film is encompassing, entrancing and expertly done. Quite frankly, they don’t make sports documentaries this powerful every year. Klitscko is indeed a rare gem and a true treat. Highly recommended.
Mark Wills Makes a Splash on Comeback Album
America loves a come back story and country music has had its fair share, so there’s no reason why Mark Wills shouldn’t be embraced by country music fans across North America. Known for a series of chart-topping hits in the mid-to-late 90s, Wills has faded far from the spotlight, being dropped by at least two record labels and having not charted a hit in almost a half-decade. But all that is sure to change with the June release of Looking for America, a tightly-packed, expertly produced assortment of 10 near-flawless country songs. To call it Wills’ best is an understatement. Fact of the matter is this might be one of the genre’s best releases this year.
Opening with the full-throttled rocker “Rockin’ the Country” Wills immediately makes a statement that this new album is indeed something different. Known for his ballads and mid-tempo arrangements “Rockin’ the Country,” is a guitar-heavy cut prime for tailgating and the open road. Returning to his comfort zone, the disc turns serious on title cut and first single “Looking for America,” an ode to national pride that is melodic, magnetic and highly memorable. He follows that up with second single “Crazy Being Home,” a flawless and masterful narrative about an American soldier in Tikrit. The piano ballad “Like There’s No Yesterday,” continues the consistency and Wills deliver throughout the course of the album. Whether it’s the cheeky “Phantom of the Opry,” the sizzling’ “Smokin’ Gun,” or the plaintive “Where Did I Lose You,” Wills leaves it all on the table.
By the album’s conclusion, an acoustic version of the near flawless “Crazy Being Home,” Wills has put crafted arguably his greatest album, and one that country music fans should embrace in large quantities. With Looking for America, Mark Wills is indeed back.
