SOUNDTRACK: TOPLESS WOMEN TALK ABOUT THEIR LIVES soundtrack (2006).
I learned about this soundtrack from a very cool article in The Believer (the beginning of which is online here). In the piece, the author claims to have never seen the film (he was given the soundtrack by a friend) and he doesn’t want to change his associations with the music by watching the film. And now, I too can say I have never seen the film, and likely never will. And I really enjoy the soundtrack too.
The soundtrack is sort of an excuse to showcase a bunch of bands from New Zealand’s Flying Nun record label. Featured artists are The 3DS, The Bats, The Clean, Superette, Snapper, The Chills, Straightjacket Fits, and Chris Knox.
It’s nigh impossible to give an overarching style to these songs. Even when the bands have multiple songs on the soundtrack, they are not repetitive at all. Even trying to represent a genre would be difficult. The opener “Hey Suess” is almost a surf-punk song, while Chris Knox’s gorgeous “Not Given Lightly” is a stunning ballad. There’s a cool shoe-gazer song “Saskatchewan,” and some great simple indie rock (a bunch of other tracks).
The only thing these bands have in common is that they’re all from New Zealand. And as with any large body of land, no two bands are going to sound alike. Nevertheless, all of the bands fall under the indie rock umbrella. It’s a great collection of songs that many people probably haven’t heard. It’s worth tracking down for the great collection of tunes and, if all you know about New Zealand is The Flight of the Conchords.
[READ: September 24, 2009] Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
After finishing Infinite Jest I wasn’t sure just how much more DFW I would want to read right away (of course, seeing as how I have now read almost all of his uncollected work, that is a rather moot point). But when I saw that John Krasinski (of TV’s The Office) was making a film of this book, I had to jump in and read it again.
Obviously, there are many questions to be asked about this film (). Is it going to be based on all the stories in the book? (Surely not, some are completely unrelated). Is it going to be just the interviews? (Probably, and yet there’s no overall narrative structure there). And, having seen the trailer, I know structure is present. I’m quite interested in the film. In part because I didn’t LOVE the stories. Well, that’s not quite right. I enjoyed them very much, but since they weren’t stories per se, just dialogue, I’m not afraid of the stories getting turned into something else. The text isn’t sacred to me, which may indeed make for the perfect set-up for a film.
Anyhow, onto the stories.
The obvious joke is that the author of Infinite Jest has created a book with “Brief” in the title! But indeed, many of these stories are quite brief. Some are only a couple of paragraphs (which true, from DFW that could still be ten pages). But, indeed, most of the interviews in the book are brief too (except the final one in the book, which is nearly 30 pages). (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: LAND OF KUSH-Against the Day [CST058] (2008).
Land of Kush is a huge orchestra created by Sam Shalibi. Shalibi is a maniac of independent releases, creating everything from orchestral pieces to solo records all with his unique blend of middle eastern tinged music (featuring his oud playing).
SOUNDTRACK: FLEET FOXES-Sun Giant EP (2008).
My friend Jarrett introduced me to the Fleet Foxes with their self-titled CD. I recently picked up the Sun Giant EP and it is just as good as the main CD. It opens with a beautiful a capella introduction to “Sun Giant” in multipart harmony that melds into a nice folksy song.
SOUNDTRACK: NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL-In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (1998).
I had always put off getting into Neutral Milk Hotel. They were just another one of those Elephant 6 bands, and there were so many bands and splinter-bands and solo bands that I had to draw the line somewhere. And Neutral Milk Hotel were on the other side of it. I hadn’t even heard them, I just decided I couldn’t listen to them.
Okay, so this magazine doesn’t really count. 
SOUNDTRACK: EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY-The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place (2003).
Explosions in the Sky play beautiful, lengthy almost cinematic instrumentals. They are primarily a guitar-drum band, (but they do add bass from time to time).
SOUNDTRACK: SONIC YOUTH-Murray Street (2002).
After NYC Ghosts and Flowers, I put off getting this disc. I was getting a little bored by the meandering, somewhat glacial pace of the last two discs, and figured that was the trend they’d be continuing (especially since there are only seven songs on here!).
SOUNDTRACK: REGINA SPEKTOR-Far (2009).
Regina Spektor has reaffirmed my faith in female singers. Back in the 1990s, during the height of Lilith Fair craze, there was an embarrassment of cool, hip, interesting women singers releasing discs. Since then some have sold out (Liz Phair), some have gone away (Shirley Manson), and some have just, well, matured (Tori Amos). Maturation is a fine thing, but when you are known for doing interesting things, by the time you get to doing standard piano ballads, well, yes, we all mature, but we don’t all lose our quirkiness, right?
I’m not sure how I first learned about 
SOUNDTRACK: GREAT NORTHERN-Trading Twilight for Daylight (2007).
A patron donated this disc to our library. I had never heard of Great Northern, but I gave it a listen, in part because I hoped that the band name came from Twin Peaks (no idea if it does). And wow, I was blown away by this disc.
I Just Read About That... 