Chin Up Chin Up [live]

I like this band, but I could never get too into them. I think it was the lack of choruses. Seeing them live put a whole new perspective on it. Chin Up Chin Up is an instrumental band- one that happens to sing. They don't have a great (or even mediocre to be honest) vocalist, so they don't force something that wouldn't work well: where a normal band would put a chorus, these guys step away from the mic and let the audience hear the great melodies they put together and the way all the band members interact with each other. In that manner they're kind of like Built to Spill. This was the last show of their tour to support their new album This Harness Can't Ride Anything (MmGravy) and they were playing to a small crowd in a shitty venue. But they played like they loved their songs and they had everyone dancing.

I guess art pop is their most common description, but I don't like it. They're a rock band that plays guitar almost exclusively on the high frets, has a very active bass (but one that is mixed low, which I like), a keyboardist who fills in the spaces, and a drummer who does a great job sequencing with the guitars, kicks off all the songs really well, and unobtrusively drives the band. All this makes the sound energetic and easy on the ears, but it was clear watching them that this was rock sounding poppy rather than pop made to sound like rock. They hit three choruses all night long; all were guttural, authentic, and satisfying pieces of their songs. My friend calls it sissy indie which I think may be a contradiction in terms

The setlist was tight, there wasn't a ton of banter, and there was no encore.

I met their bass player (he owns the record label my friend works for) and my friends and I took him up to the station for an interview/plug. He stole one of the posters for the show on his way down the staircase. He reminded me of Mr. Daley.

If you have the chance to see them, please do so. This was a very good example of how seeing a band live can increase your love of them and their music, which is tough when you're just playing them out of your computer speakers. Take the opportunity and you'll be dancing and humming afterwards.

Rating: MMGravy

post script
Its a good thing I wasn't reviewing concerts before, I would have always been gushing seeing as how I didn't have a bank with which to compare shows. That said something tells me shows will almost always have higher rating than their respective albums.

Movie Catch-Up

Well, hesitant though I may be to admit it, there are some other good movies out besides The Fountain (just go see it! Please!), so here's a rundown of everything I've seen since...I dunno, mid-November I guess.

While I am a big fan of Ben's rating system, I'm not gonna use it. It's sort of a mental thing where it suddenly becomes a competition for every movie ("If I gave Movie X a 75, is Movie Y really an 80? It is...but it's not REALLY better than Movie X..."). It's totally my own insanity, but what'll you do.

STRANGER THAN FICTION - The kind of movie that gets the film geek inside of me all happy - a director (Marc Forster, Finding Neverland) putting out yet another very fresh film from a completely original script by a first-time screenwriter (Zach Helm, who has a very bright future) with a cast you would never otherwise see together (when else would Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson, and Queen Latifah have cause to join together?). Will Ferrell's fantastic in it.

HARSH TIMES - The movie, which mostly deals with the psychological scars left by military life, is only slightly above average. Christian Bale's performance, however, is incredible, and the movie's entertaining enough. Definitely a dude flick.

FUR: AN IMAGINARY PORTRAIT OF DIANE ARBUS - One of those difficult movies that's really well made, but is just too weird for most people (me, I just didn't care for it).

CASINO ROYALE - It's damn good, if a little long for its own good, and Daniel Craig is a great James Bond, but the best Bond movie ever? Hardly. I'll take Goldeneye any day.

OLD JOY - Hey, look, a true indie movie shot in Oregon! And it really made me miss home, but not because there's a shot outside the Franz bread company on 12th, but because it really evokes that "Portland vibe."

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION - New movie by Christopher Guest and company (the guys who did Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, and A Mighty Wind), and the first 2/3rds really feel like it. Then the final act starts and it just gets...sad...but not in a good way. At all.

DEJA VU - I love time travel movies, I really do. And while this isn't anywhere near the glory of Primer, it's pretty damn great and pretty damn geeky. There's a car chase sequence that's unlike anything ever done that'll cement this movie in history.

This week, I'm seeing Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny (SO EXCITED!), Blood Diamond, and The Nativity Story. Then next weekend, Apocalypto comes out (which by all accounts is going to be incredible), along with some movie called Fuck that's basically a documentary about the word. I'm going for the portions of the an interview with the late Hunter S. Thompson. And because it's a fun word. Also, The Holiday comes out, but I'd rather see that right before Christmas (girls, wait for me to get home, I really want to see it with you).

Tromple-L'oeil

These French Canadians:


Made this album:


For you:
I wish I could insert an internet mirror here.

After a short intro, Malajube hits you with "Montréal -40°C", a song that goes from dance to twee to some delicious combo. "Pâte Filo" is great energetic pop followed by "Le Crabe", by which point you wonder if Malajube has discovered a melody mine where they go, dig these suckers up, and then proceed to stuff like ten in per song, like they don't plan to make another album. "La Monogamie" is another strong cut, followed by "Ton Plat Favori" which is the soundtrack to going to the carnival on uppers I think.

They start to lose a little creativity (but never spunk) on "La Russe" and "Fille À Plumes", after which the record takes a decidedly different turn. "Casse-Cou" alternates between calm pop and metal freakout, setting you up for my favorite track on the record, "Étienne D'août". I guess the band found one hook they could all agree on -and you'll hear why- and built a five and a half minute song around it. It rises and falls beautifully, and in general reminds me Slowdive. This should have been the end of the album (which would make it a concise 35 minutes, just about right for a pop album) but they tack on "St-Fortunat", a throwaway, and "La Fin", almost eleven minutes long-45 seconds of instrumental, eight minutes of silence-and a nice little minute and a half of a sketch of a song. Pointless and stupid.

So if you want some energetic disco rock where you never know what's coming next (e.g. they actually try rapping at one point), or just want to hear men singing in French (you know who you are), there are a few of the songs in the link, as well as some that aren't on this album (their first). If you're a big Unicorns/Islands fan, give it a shot.

Rating: mMGravy

Breakfast of Champions

I read this book in about 36 hours. I'm not saying that to be impressive, its a short book replete with sketches. But it ate me alive like nothing has since Slaughterhouse-Five this summer. Since I picked it up, I have avoided all work, skipped a biology lab, and was thinking about it when I wasn't reading it. I just saw a clip of Vonnegut on the Jon Stewart show. He has a new book out and is still is not missing a beat. I don't know much about the man factually, but I feel like I understand him very well from the way he writes. This book is him, poured out, to the point where he literally writes himself in near the end. I did a little research and it turns out this is the book he created after he wrote Slaughterhouse-Five and said he would never write a book again. Shakeer or Ian could tell you more. A plot summary would have very limited worth. This is an anti-novel. Vonnegut tears down everything and then for a moment he puts it back together -such a moment!- and it echoes on until the end, where he just shatters it. I'm reeling.

I know I wasn't the same after Slaughterhouse-Five. Its Top Five for me. I think its perfect. This book might not be perfect, but it will take six or seven hours of your time and that my friends is a worthwhile investment. You might be offended at some points, you'll surely feel fucking awful for much of it, but its absolutely worth it. Now I have Cat's Cradle and Welcome to the Monkey House for this weekend.

Rating (the act of rating this is a sin I'm very certain, especially with our system. Wait, he'd actually like the system):
mMMmGravy.

Say it!

Now read it.

Beast Moans

Beast Moans is a fluid, calm album; a dense soundscape of a record where eventually you hear everything including the kitchen sink. While there are plenty of different things going on musically, none of it is jarring. And jarring is kind of what I expected given that Swan Lake is these three Canucks, from left: Spencer Krug a la Wolf Parade and Sunset Rubdown (and occassionally Frog Eyes I guess), Casey Mercer the lead man from Frog Eyes, and Dan Bejar AKA Destroyer, also known for our favorites the New Pornographers.



While these three do pull out pretty much every trick they know, the fundamentals are keyboards and piano, acoustic and distorted electric guitars (which sometimes feel like an afterthought), synths, some very creative percussion (when its there), and constantly shifting vocal duties and backup methods. The first three songs are pretty unremarkable, and the fourth seems destined to sink with its promising but frustratingly quiet and weak melody until Dan chants "a venue called rubella" forever as the piano rises behind him, which oddly enough makes the song. Next up is the only potential mixtape track, "All Fires" which I have listened to over twenty times in the last two days. Its not outstanding, but its the most straightforward acoustic ballad and has a way of digging in and not letting go.

The rest is a cohesive, lowkey mix of stuff, much of which is put together by Mercer who seems to be taking this opportunity to test what else he can do. It's Sunset Rubdown without the electro-glitch, Wolf Parade without the anthem, Frog Eyes without the guts/insanity, and Destroyer without the, well actually some of these are pretty much Destroyer songs. "Freedom", in particular, has stolen a vocal melody from one of his New Pornographers songs (I'm nearly certain but I can't place which one) and a structure and production that would place it on his last record Destroyer's Rubies. Its really good. The other almost great track is "Are You Swimming In Her Pools?", a Spencer-led number that has some really cool shifts in tempo and volume and is the most reminiscent of Wolf Parade. If you're a lyrics kind of person you might find more to dive into on this album seeing as how these are three very talented songwriters, but the "band" (this is probably a one-off) doesn't put the words center-stage acoustically so I myself don't feel guilty about not concentrating on them, even though I probably should. On the other hand, if you're a verse-chorus type person you should probably keep your distance.

In the end, I was disappointed because my hopes were very high and it just felt a little uninspired. But this is a good record with no bad songs and four very good ones, one which feels complete of itself even if I want it to be more. I suspect it will grow on me.

Because I want to get this off on the right foot, I've linked a place where you can grab this, until it hits the street of course after which you would be obligated to purchase it. (I think/hope the download has a glitch on "Petersburg, Liberty Theater, 1914")

Rating: mMmGravy (75%)

post script
yeah, I invented a rating system. Gravy is worth forty. An M is worth twenty. an m before the M is ten and after the M is five. Hence that 75%. 55% is tricky. I guess it will be mmGravy and we'll just hafta remember that one. Hmm, there's no way to tell between 45% and 50%. Until further notice, nothing can be 45%. If its worse than a 40, you get to describe what kind of nasty gravy it is. Maybe it has boogers in it!

When you read the rating, you MUST say it out loud.

The rating system is obviously open to input/innovation/overhaul.

post post script
And if anyone wants to review anything else, I don't know, maybe you somehow got your hands on the new Shins album super-early or something, for example, that would be, as they say here in South Bend, cool. Until then, I'm here with you Scott. The Alfalfa to your Spanky. Er. Yeah.

post post post script
I think this should be our new blog tagline:

All aboard the Gravy Train! er, Boat!