Team Sleep by Team Sleep
I've been a Deftones fan since one inebriated summer day back in 2000. Maybe it was the way my brain chemistry was altered that not so fateful humid day, but listening to White Pony and its more melodic and less heavy approach really stuck with me. Their following albums continued with this approach and ran with it beautifully, but in 2005 Deftones frontman Chino Moreno and his side project Team Sleep put out their debut album. This overlooked and unheard of masterpiece combines shoegaze, trip hop and a touch of rock and hardcore. It starts off with some gorgeously dreamy songs, the exact thing the die-hard Deftones fans hated about White Pony and everything that came afterwards, then gives way to the Massive Attack idolotry that was supposedly the band's main intent. Rob Crow of Pinback and Mary Timony of Helium also make guest appearances if you're not convinced.Team Sleep is definitely one of those kick in the ass albums for a couple reasons. First, I want to kick myself in the ass for not listening to it sooner. And secondly, I'd like to kick myself in the ass for listening to the meathead who gave it the bad review because it wasn't Adrenaline or Around the Fur.
The Venture Brothers
If you like your adult cartoons geeky, literate and snarky then The Venture Brothers just might be your thing. The series follows the exploits of Dean and Hank Venture, boy adventurers who with their father Dr. Venture and bodyguard Brock Sampson get into all kinds of Jonny Quest-inspired nonsense and hijinks. Some episodes are as based in everyday life as a cartoon can be while others include villains such as The Monarch, Dr. Girlfriend, Baron Underbheit and Phantom Limb.Admittedly, I didn't get into The Venture Brothers immediately. It took me until the second disc of the first season for it to grab me. And it's been all laughs ever since. Currently all three seasons are available on DVD and season four starts in November. Hence, the perfect time to get caught up.
You In Reverse by Built To Spill
When Built To Spill put out their first album in five years back in 2006 I thought it was... well, okay. I didn't hate it but I wasn't doing backflips over it either. I ripped the promotional copy the record store I work at got to my iTunes and came back to it from time to time, never listening to more than the first three songs.But like most underappreciated works of beauty go it took nearly three years for it to fully reach me. The album's opening track 8-minute plus "Goin' Against Your Mind" tests its listeners' patience with some heavy rhythms that eventually give way to some fuzzy guitars. From there on in its the dreaminess of "Traces" and "Liar." After some laid-back angstiness you get the catchiness of "Conventional Wisdom," which gives way to a few anxious but enjoyable tracks and ends with the bittersweet "The Wait." Definitely not an album that's guaranteed to stick upon the maiden listen, but once it does take hold you'll be glad it did.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The first time Brad Pitt and director David Fincher got together to make a movie we ended up with the grisly latter-day classic Seven. The second time they teamed up we got Fight Club. When I initially saw their third pairing, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button I couldn't help but feel a tad disappointed. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't expecting a subversively gruesome headfuck basted in style. Pitt's kids (adopted and otherwise) have robbed him of any edginess he had even if Fincher's still capable. With a movie about a man who ages backwards and the trailer shows an elderly Cate Blanchett walking a presumably elderly/infant Brad Pitt I wasn't expecting a happy ending.And upon that first viewing in the theater last holiday season that's exactly what I got. A completely depressing final 45 minutes that completely overshadowed any enjoyment. The only thing that kept me from opening a few arteries in a nice warm bathtub was a sideways moviegoing experience with my friend Diane that quickly turned into an unaired MST3K episode. But like many movies lately that second viewing is truly necessary to truly form an opinion of a movie. My 2-night DVD screening of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (I'm usually home from work by 12:20 AM and hit the wall by 3--getting all the way through a 2 hour and 40 minute movie usually isn't in the cards for me) was like watching a completely different movie. Pitt's Polar Express-like creepy old man wasn't as unsettling, the cinematography was beautiful and the movie was a magnificently layered (and contrary to what you've undoubtedly heard a non-boring) epic. Those last 45 minutes were still heartwrenching but the movie was still a wonderful ride.
Wilco's Ashes of American Flags DVD
Over the years I've been an increasingly hardcore Wilco fan. My first exposure to them was their 1999 album Summerteeth. Like all of their following (and previous) albums, none of them have grabbed me immediately. They're growers. I've never gotten into a Wilco album immediately, but after several listens something unlocks and I've almost always for a new favorite album.
About a month ago, Wilco released a concert film DVD called Ashes of American Flags that showcases how truly amazing they are live. They've got the best lineup they've ever had and the performances on this DVD prove it. Let me put it this way--I liked this DVD so much that I actually listened to Sky Blue Sky twice after I saw watching it. And the first ten times I listened to it I hated it. Ashes of American Flags sent me on a Wilco bender and the only thing that will likely snap me out of it will be their new album coming out at the end of June.
The Mighty Boosh
I love The Mighty Boosh for many reasons. But if I had to pick one this would be it:
I was reasonably psyched when Adult Swim announced they were going to start running the show on their late night line-up. But between a late start and a dead DVR I missed the first and last episode they aired. Then because the Brits tend to run their TV seasons (or series) differently than we do in the states it was done before you knew it. Oh, and the average half hour series in the UK is 29 as opposed to the 23 minutes that we run in the US to allow for really bad commercials.
But whatever. Fuck it. The show was a riot, it was random, completely odd and I loved it. Instead of waiting for the domestic release of the Season One DVD in July I think I'll just get the region 2 complete series of all 3 seasons on Amazon. I hate missing out almost as much as I hate waiting.
Factotum
I watched the Charles Bukowski-based 2005 film Factotum maybe a year or a year and a half ago. I liked, but didn't love it. Matt Dillon's booze first, work later portrayal of Bukowski's alter-ego Hank Chinaski was probably the best thing I've ever seen him do. Additionally everyone else who was in the movie was equally seedy and brilliant.
Besides, Factotum has this actual line of dialogue: I decided to clean up the apartment. I thought I must be turning into a fag. Definitely the most entertaining movie about alcoholics I've ever seen. I caught a bit of it on cable (on the Starz Romance channel of all places) last week and realized how much of a difference that second viewing can make.
