Sunday Morning Song Selection: Boy Friend’s “Gimme Gimme Gimme”
Words: Amy Keresztes
As a devoted fan of all things Swedish, I’m a real sucker for ABBA. A good ABBA cover, though, is hard to come by (and usually takes the ultra-kitchsy form of the musical “spectacular” Mamma Mia). Thankfully there’s Boy Friend, the musical partnership of Christa Palazzolo and Sarah Brown. Their Tumblr description says it best: “With a creative partnership that combines different stylistic preferences and attitude with a passion for fantasy, narratives and love-sick lyrics, their song-writing is led by strong lead vocal and guitar melodies layered in harmonies, ambiance, and thick atmospheric backdrops.” Tried, and true: their version of the ABBA hit “Gimme Gimme Gimme,” restored my faith in the integrity of the cover project. In their capable hands, this blissfully cheesy pop song has been reincarnated as a strong, gorgeous aural experience.
BBC Interview with a 17 Year Old David Bowie
BBC Tonight’s Cliff Michelmore’s 1964 interview with the 17 year old founder of The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Long-haired Men, David Jones (The Monkees would form the following year and irrevocably sully Bowie’s birth name).
via 01
6 Winter Rap Albums to Get You Through the Cold
Words: Jay Wasserman
As the leaves slowly lose their vibrant fall colors and darkness comes an hour earlier, we are reminded that winter has arrived. Aside from Christmas music, nothing warms the soul quite like some great winter raps. We here at IF have compiled a mini-list of some top-notch albums that are sure to help you get through the season.
GZA - Liquid Swords (1995)
It’s only right that I start with the album that inspired this article. GZA’s Liquid Swords showcased the MC’s storytelling ability amid a backdrop of off-key piano samples and dialogue swiped from old karate flicks. As one of the least colorful members of the Wu-Tang Clan, GZA’s true genius shines not in his bravado or style but in his lyricism. With songs like “Investigative Reports” and “Living in the World Today,” GZA’s skills are able to breathe on this solo LP. RZA, producer of the entire album, orchestrates a sound as of yet unheard by any ear, especially on the classic cut “4th Chamber.” Unless, of course, you were browsing the rap section three months prior and happened to pick up our next LP…
December 2011 Forecast
Words: Rob DeStefano
Sarah Jessica Parker stars as Steven Spielberg’s War Horse. Roman Polanski puts Christoph Waltz under house arrest. And Madonna makes another movie (there was a first?). What else is happening this December?
Friday: December 2
Pick – Sleeping Beauty
Giving Twilight fans even more time to cool off after a ravenous two weeks, this release date serves up some smaller dishes. Shame, which I caught an early screening of at the Hamptons Film Festival, has been eliminated from the choices due to that advantage, though it was damn good and should be seen by any cinephile.
Despite mixed reviews, the trailer for Sleeping Beauty is enough to at least grab some attention. Strangely seductive and eerie, its tone and visuals are bold. This twisted fairytale, not to be confused with the French adaptation, follows a university student Lucy into a secret ring of opulent prostitution. It is a movie that has divided critics: some shouting pretension, others calling it riveting. I’m interested to see Emily Browning’s performance, as well as first-time director Julia Leigh’s chops (or lack of chops).
Review: The Visible Man
Chuck Klosterman – The Visible Man
(Scribner, hardcover, 240 pages)
Words: James Passarelli
The Visible Man comes in the form of an unedited manuscript by the puzzlingly named Victoria Vick, a struggling therapist in Austin, detailing her interactions with an extraordinary patient. Through a series of face-to-face and telephone conversation transcripts, voicemails, and sometimes Vick’s mere recollections, we are introduced to Y____, a brilliant, erratic, self-important, and antisocial man who claims to have developed an invisibility suit with which to observe people when they are alone, the only state in which he believes they reveal their true selves. “My goal in life, pretty much since infancy,” he arrogantly explains, “has been to understand the truth about human nature.” Fascinated by his disturbing accounts, but even more by his aberrant behavior, nebulous motives, and seemingly rehearsed monologues, Vick becomes caught up in Y____’s character.
Sunday Morning Song Selection: Zbigniew Preisner’s “Van Den Budenmayer Concerto en Mi Mineu, Version de 1798″
Words: Amy Keresztes
One of the best films I’ve ever seen is Krzysztof Kieslowski’s La Double Vie de Véronique, or The Double Life of Véronique. It is a warmly colored, gracefully imagined cinematic masterpiece that wraps around the viewer and leaves one feeling both shaken and revived. Trying to remember it is like gathering fragments of a beautiful, haunting dream.
The film would be half of what it is without music– both characters are musicians: Weronika a vocal soloist and pianist and Véronique a music teacher– and this track is the film’s aural center and defining moment.
Strains and fragments of the haunting, stirring, and musically unforgettable piece are repeated throughout the film and become stuck in the listener’s head, but not in a sense of trite catchiness; instead it seeps in slowly. From the plaintive, migratory opening strains to the choral climax. to the ethereal, wordless chorus of the final minute, this is the defining sound of a film that deals with chance, memory, unconscious choices, and the phenomenological encounter.
10 Terrible Thanksgiving Guests
Words: Rob DeStefano
Uncle Joe loves his wine and has a lot to say about the Supercommittee. Grandma Jean can’t remember that the term “darkies” was abandoned with prohibition. And your cousin’s girlfriend saw the trailer for New Year’s Eve and can’t wait! Count to ten. Take a deep breath. Your table could be worse.
IF’s 10 Terrible Thanksgiving Guests of 2011 Film
10. Walter Black (Mel Gibson in The Beaver)
There’s only one way for a bigot to break his habits: adopt a creepy hand puppet and an accent. Walter Black is not a ventriloquist, which will cause Gibson and The Beaver to fight for your attention when they both ask you to pass the pumpkin pie. Take the high road and give it to the cotton cloth, damp with hand sweat and gravy, being waved in your face. A three for one deal allowing Jodi Foster to wear her director’s pants and call commands from the living room might sweeten the experience.
Review: Metals
Feist – Metals
(Polydor/Cherrytree)
Words: Bryant Kitching
In the course of the four years since Leslie Feist released her iPod-friendly commercial breakthrough, The Reminder, she has essentially gone from Broken Social Scene back-up singer with a small niche as a solo artist to bone fide indie superstar. One could make the argument that in doing so she laid the groundwork and became the gold standard for the modern female chanteuse (it’s hard not to hear at least a little bit of Feist’s soulful candor in the recent work of artists like Adele). Finally, four years later, Feist returns in full-length format with Metals, and also the pressure that comes with following up massive success. Feist’s time off has done her well, as Metals exceeds its predecessor in both ambition and flow, but fails to quite match the shiny accessibility that brought the songstress to the masses. Metals ditches the Sesame Street-like playfulness in favor of a harsher realism based in the blues.
Review: Chasing Madoff
Jeff Prosserman – Chasing Madoff
(Cohen Media Group)
Words: Eamon Stewart
Meet Harry Markopolos, independent fraud investigator, corporate whistleblower, general all American hero, and star of Jeff Prosserman’s white collar crime doc, Chasing Madoff. I categorize Markopolos as the star despite Bernie Madoff being the film’s namesake (and ostensibly the reason why you’re watching this movie in the first place). But this movie isn’t all that much about Madoff. If there were an Academy Award for Best Supporting Person Periodically Seen On File Footage During A Documentary, he’d be lucky to get a nomination. No, this is definitely Markopolos’s show, and you’ll learn a whole lot more about him than you’d ever care to know.
The Boss is Touring Again
The first few dates of the 2012 tour have already been announced. Take a look for yourself after the jump.