500 Days of Summer Review

I generally use this blog for music-related writing, but I saw 500 Days of Summer at the Wisconsin Film Fest on Thursday night, and would like to give the internet community my five cents:

Positive Aspects of the Film:
-The author’s note at the beginning is funny.
-Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are easy on the eyes.
-There is one funny Star Wars-related sight gag.
-The split-screen expectations vs. reality idea scene was interesting and worked well.

Negative Aspects:
- It’s derivative.
- The characters are emotionally stunted. Had the characters been ten years younger, it would have been more believable. They were supposed to be in their mid-late twenties, and they acted like High School Sophomores, playing “the penis game,” etc. They aren’t lovable Apatow-esque characters trying to prolong their virtually responsibility-free adolescent lives, they’re idiots.
- It’s hardly ever funny.
- It’s gimmicky as hell.
- It tries very hard to be “hip.” There is a Garden State-esque moment with The Smiths as opposed to The Shins, JGL sings Pixies and Clash songs at a Karaoke bar, etc.

I wanted to like this movie, but anyone who has seen Annie Hall will see that it is basically as if they took that great film, dumbed it down, made it a whole lot less funny, made the characters less likable, and tried to cover all that with a sheen of hip pop-culture references (some terribly agonizing), and fast, colorful shots. In a way, it is to Annie Hall what Garden State is to Harold & Maude.

It will do well, but as a review written by Devin Feraci for Cinematic Happenings Under Development rather astutely says, “It is a fairly unoriginal, quite conventional movie that is designed to specifically appeal to people who think they’re very original and not at all conventional,” and “500 Days of Summer will only end up as well regarded as its influences by people who haven’t seen them.”

Not recommended

The Difference Reba McEntire Makes

Brooks & Dunn’s latest single, “Cowgirls Don’t Cry” has been getting a lot of airplay over the past four months or so. It’s by the numbers country. It’s not their best moment, but it’s not bad either. I don’t claim to be a huge Brooks & Dunn fan, but I like them enough to defend “Neon Moon” as the well-written, perfectly executed slice of slick country-pop that it is:

Mmm… Now here is “Cowgirls Don’t Cry”:

The song has a nice enough melody which puts it above a dishearteningly high number of contemporary mainstream country songs. The production is very clean. There is some nice steel guitar, fiddle, and piano playing. Dunn’s vocals are good, but the lyrics leave something to be desired. Since clean production and crackerjack musicianship is par for the course in contemporary country music, the song remains average at best. When Brooks & Dunn originally released “Cowgirls Don’t Cry” as a single it didn’t do as well as they had hoped. But they had an inspired idea, they went back into the studio and added a special guest vocal by Reba McEntire.

This helped the song gain in popularity by leaps and bounds, and with good reason.

Ms. McEntire’s appearance in the song is not a long one, but it makes all the difference in the world. If you don’t want to listen to the whole song again start around the 2:15 mark through to the end:

At 2:41 when Reba’s voice kicks in, I don’t care about the treacly lyrics anymore, nor do I care that it doesn’t really make sense for her to sing at that point in the song because it is supposed to be the protagonist of the song’s father speaking, not the protagonist. I don’t care that Ms. McEntire’s inclusion could easily be written off as a gimmick to sell more records. I don’t care because I believe her. I don’t even know what it is that I believe, but from the moment she starts in shaky and vulnerable until she finishes with a renewed sense of purpose and strength, I’m all hers. The moment Ms. McEntire starts singing, the song is elevated to the transcendental. The only problem is that the moment ends much too soon, but I suppose moments like that always do.

Tinted Windows or: Ryan Dombal Doesn’t Know What He’s Talking About

From Pitchforkmedia.com:

According to Billboard.com, there’s a new band that exists on earth called Tinted Windows featuring former Smashing Pumpkin James Iha, Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos, handsome Hanson brother Taylor, and Fountains of Wayne bassist Adam Schlesinger.

I am looking at my calendar right now. It is not April 1.

A couple things while my mind is still barely stuck together: You put together one of the most random something-groups ever and the best name you can come up with is Tinted Windows?! Is that a play on the secretive nature of the group? Do they all wear Men in Black shades on stage? Is this a Blues Brothers revival act? But, really, if you’re going to go “Tinted” why not go all the way, like Blacked Out. Or Smashed Windows. Well, maybe not “Smashed.” Hm. At least a moniker with some confidence, some commitment. As of now, this band is like the transition lenses of something-groups.

The union sort of makes sense considering Iha and Schlesinger co-own a studio and Taylor Hanson seems like an all-around good guy…but still.

Apparently, the band have already recorded their debut album in New York and are set to make their big time live splash at Billboard’s SXSW showcase March 20 in Austin.

If this is Billboard’s idea of a gag, I have to hand it to them– it could be an incredible gag.

UPDATE: It’s not a gag. Tinted Windows is very real, their publicist assures us. And their album is coming out April 21.

I’m not sure Ryan Dombal (the writer of this piece) understands that this isn’t really that strange of a collaboration. If someone told me that Adam Schlesinger and Bun E. Carlos were working on something together, it wouldn’t surprise me. The music of Cheap Trick and Fountains of Wayne are not that far removed. If you can find me a Fountains of Wayne fan who doesn’t acknowledge the catchy genius of “Surrender” and “I Want You To Want Me,” I’ll show you an ill-informed pop fan. And Taylor Hanson has always had a hell of pop sensibility, even at the age of 14.

Cheap Trick’s “Surrender”

Fountains of Wayne’s “Joe Rey”

I think the above Pitchfork article: “WTF: Members of Smashing Pumpkins, Hanson, Cheap Trick, and Fountains of Wayne Form Band” is titled in a way that is meant to sound worthy of the WTF because of “members of Smashing Pumpkins,” however, it’s not like Billy Corgan is in the band with the other guys. It’s James Iha, who, as the article states, owns a recording studio wih FoW’s Adam Schlesinger.

Sorry, Ryan Dombal, if you knew anything about the bands these individuals come from, you’d know this news is not worthy of the WTF label. Also, your little digression about the name of the band is pointless. Sure, maybe Tinted Windows isn’t the best band name ever, but it’s not bad. And it’s a hell of a lot better than your article.

Anyway, I’m pretty stoked to hear what these guys come up with. They have the manpower and talent to produce a really great power-pop album, but as with any supergroup, there is the chance that the whole might not be equal to the sum of its parts.

“I’ll Be Home”

I finally got my hands on a copy of “Nilsson Sings Newman” (I’ve been meaning to for about three years now) a couple of months ago, however I didn’t get the chance to give it a close listen until today. That said, I’ve listened to it three times and counting since this morning. It’s excellent. Maybe not as immediately gripping as other classic pop/rock albums of the late 60s/early 70s, but just as rewarding. It’s as intimate as Brian Wilson’s piano and vocal arrangement of “Surf’s Up”:

but also as loose and organic sounding as the best songs from The Band’s “Music from Big Pink”:

It’s worth checking out. As are Harry Nilsson and Randy Newman’s various solo records from the late 60s/early 70s, (e.g. “Nilsson Schmilsson,” “Good Old Boys,” etc.)

Since it’s almost Valentine’s Day, here is one of the sweeter songs from the record:

I’m havin’ a…

Nervous Breakdown (not really) due to high levels of anxiety plaguing me while I await news of acceptance to, or (more likely) rejection from the six schools I applied to for grad school. There is a blog that keeps track of notification dates for individuals admitted to different MFA programs, and notifications have been sent to at least three people (total) from two schools I applied to. No word from the other four to anyone yet, so a small particle of hope still lingers. From what I’ve gathered, there is hope to be had until one receives rejection letters, which generally get sent out in mid-March, because some people will turn down their initial acceptance at one University to go to another one higher on their list, leaving available spots. It’d be nice to be a first-round pick, but I’ll take what I can get.

Until I start hearing back from schools, my hands will shiver, my knees will quiver, and my whole body will be in a jitter, but at least I have Eddie Cochran’s empathy in the form of his highly danceable ode to my current state of mind to help me through.

“Let’s have some wine and take off our scarves!”

It’s a snowy day in Madison, the roads are slippery, the air is cold, the sky is grey. Not much to celebrate. It’s days like this I wish I were somewhere else.

One of the few things that keeps winter in Wisconsin from being completely unbearable is the feeling of relief you get when you get back inside after being out in it for awhile. The release of ripping off all of your winter outerwear and throwing it in a pile. Knowing you can now sit back watching the snow fall outside your window. It’s easier to admire the beauty of it from a distance.

Both the idea of escape and the joy of coming in from the cold are present in today’s song, Patchwork’s “Interstate Love Song II.” One of my favorite tracks off of last year’s “Take Me Down The Interstate.”

Enjoy the song, and try to keep warm, everyone.

Also, if you enjoyed this song, the man behind the Patchwork moniker, Jeremiah Nelson, has his own blog that you can check out here.

Ben Gibbard = Ozzy Osbourne?

I never really thought to compare the two until I saw the above photo of Mr. Gibbard on the Onion’s AV Club website, but when I did I thought of a couple similarities.

Aside from being doppelgangers:

They were both the lead singer of a band with a macabre sounding name. Ozzy Osbourne with Black Sabbath (1968-1979), Ben Gibbard with Death Cab For Cutie (1997-Present).

and

They both have relatively high, easily recognizable voices.

One theory I have is that they are, in fact, the same person. Some more supporting evidence:

I’ve never seen them in the same place at the same time…

Ozzy Osbourne has never put out a good record in the same year a good Ben Gibbard-related record came out. Maybe after “Diary of a Madman,” Ozzy got tired of metal and started listening to college-rock like R.E.M., The Smiths, Pixies, etc, and kept along that similar track, just making throwaway hard rock records so the public wouldn’t find out about his plans to start an indie rock band around 1996-1997.

I also believe that the decrepit, mumbling, old man Ozzy portrayed himself as on “The Osbournes” was a facade. Ozzy Osbourne does not age.

If my theory is correct, I hope someone will inform Zooey Deschanel, before she makes a big mistake.

Anyway… here are some kick-ass songs by both parties:

Death Cab For Cutie’s “Bixby Canyon Bridge” off of last summer’s stellar “Narrow Stairs.”

Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs,” a favorite of mine since the age of 12.

New Blog

Hey everyone, I decided to start an mp3 blog as an excuse to write about and share some of my favorite music. Please feel free to leave comments, I’d like this to be as interactive as something inherently as cold as the internet can be.

For this post, I’ll leave you with one of my favorite songs as of late. It’s not a new song, it’s not even new to me. I’ve had the CD for a couple of years. I think I first heard about it on NPR, but I recently got a new computer so had more hard-drive space to upload some stuff I hadn’t been able to before, listened to this song and was hooked.

I’m not sure how much I like Jack Logan beyond this song and a few of the others, haven’t listened often enough or closely enough to the rest. However, “15 Years In Indiana” is a beautiful lo-fi character sketch about a dead-end job in the midwest, broken dreams and broken hearts, sung plaintively over an acoustic guitar. Check it out: