Uprooting

And just like that, I move:

hellisotherhipsters.wordpress.com

See you there!

Tame Impala (also I'm pretty sure my taste is shitty)

I've started to notice that I have never been much of a fan of classical rock or "oldies" in general. I know that this is a huge gaping wound in my taste in music, but hear me out. I'm relatively "new" to this whole music thing. This sounds completely retarded but I don't have too many memories of listening to music as a kid. However, the few scraps that I did retain from my father's library were in extremely good taste. The Clash, Kraftwerk, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Billy Idol (well, at least I like him). My first independent musical experience was Christmas 2004, when I got my first iPod. It was a 20 gigabyte U2 model (black and red, very nice colors for an iPod). I gave my dad 10 bucks to put into his iTunes account so that I could pick out a few songs. Of course, I went straight to the top 10. My first two purchases were "Just Lose It" by Eminem and "In Da Club" by 50 Cent. I bet if I had strained my ears very hard back then I could've heard Joe Strummer curdling in his urn.

I digress. The point I suppose I'm trying to make is is that I don't really have any affinity or "sympathy" towards the heydays of rock-n-roll since I was a tasteless bastard growing up. It's not my fault! Another point I need to make is that music has staged a coup amongst my avocations, specifically video games. I find myself much more interested in finding new music and reading about it, to the degree that I used to feel about playing video games. For those who don't know, the video game critiquing system is much more focused on how state-of-the-art the object in question is. Unlike music, video games that play like ones from a generation (6-10 years) ago will not fly well with critics and players, whereas tunes that are evocative of the early aughts have the same chance of being as well accepted as songs that are more in with the times. Transitioning from valuing music as music from video game standards has been a little rocky, and without a doubt there have been bands that originally I didn't care for that when I revisited later after exploring around a bit I've liked exponentially more.


Thank you Big Dog. You understand my plight I suppose, but I could stand for a bit more reassurance. And those sunglasses make you look very standoffish.

Now, on to the album impressions (finally):

The reason all the preceeding text came about is due to Tame Impala's sound: it's psych-rock without a doubt, dizzily lumbering along through the lonely woods on a mad acid trip. You'll notice that nothing seems too unfamiliar or foreign here on Innerspeaker though. When I first heard singer Kevin Parker, something in the back of my head said "Oh hey, John Lennon's still alive". Nothing's new here with the boys that make up Tame Impala's trio, but they do it so damn well, that's more than alright.

The album itself is constructed wonderfully, each song being a vital and similar piece of the whole but unique it it's own rights. The scatting and warped guitarwork, ringing cymbals, and echo-drenched vocals are present all throughout the course, and instead of creating boring repetition, it instead invokes a beautifully surrounding soundscape. This is one of those albums where the cover art beautifully convey the feel of the album: the listener walks into the ever repeating wilderness as the seasons slowly and elegantly change and bend.

She doesn't like the life that I lead / Doesn't like sand stuck on her feet / Or sitting around smoking weed - Lyrics from opener It Is Not Meant To Be

Heartache is a definite theme of the album. It sounds like this seemingly relaxing journey of an album may be trying to create a distraction for the lovesick boys. Forming an ideal world without conflict and relationship issues seems to be what these musicians are trying to achieve, while dually grappling with the problems they have with their loves. Song titles like "Alter Ego" and lyrics from the shimmering single "Solitude is Bliss" such as "you will never come close to how I feel" convey the immense loneliness and confusion these sad souls feel.



Tame Impala have crafted something very hard to make, a fresh sounding record in a genre that may be all tapped out. However, their fantastic endeavors give me hope for them and their future releases. Taking lineage from greats such as the Beatles, Cream, and Led Zeppelin, they have made something that does not only pay homage to their forefathers, but also creates something youthful and progressive out of their influence. This Australian trio have severly impressed me, and I can only recommend getting Innerspeaker with posthaste and diving headfirst into it's audial glory.

Tame Impala's debut album, Innerspeaker, was released this week in Australia on Modular Recordings, but will be released on June 8th in the United States. They have previous recordings as well, namely their Tame Impala EP.

Listen to single "Solitude is Bliss" over at Modular

Napoleon Dynamite Is Gonna Get Cartooned

Napoleon Dynamite is one of my favorite movies. The scene where Uncle Rico whips the steak right into Napoleon's dome has to be my favorite scene in all of "cinema". That said, I have reservations about this recently announced Napoleon Dynamite cartoon series, to be produced by Fox.

I feel like this is a prime example of something that sounds good on paper, but when thought about throughly could lead to some gaping flaws. Like many good films, the subtleties of the location and actors lead to a great amount of the comedy, something that is easily lost and could be impossible to convey in animation. The hilarity and desolateness of Napoleon's dreary existence would be a great challenge to portray correctly. Sure, they could go for a different style of comedy, but it just wouldn't be the same as the fantastic source material.



I would hate for this project to join the morbid crew of Fox's "Animation Domination" shows. The decrepit Simpsons, with barely an ounce of life or originality left in it's shriveled figure, and Seth McFarlane's freak show of unfunny animated sitcoms would be a place where Napoleon could go to be purged swiftly or twisted and gnashed horribly into the slop they feed the horrible man-children they market this wretched shit to. Let's hope upon it's release it is at least treated with some dignity.

That being said, nothing has been released as to who will be directing the show. Thankfully, the main characters will be returning to voice their respective roles, and writers / directors of the film, Jared and Jerusha Hess, will be involved in the show's creation in some capacity. This is a good sign in what seemed like a dismal idea to start off with. Perhaps the show has a chance at being a success? I place my hope in the Hess brothers to make the transition from film to cartoon as easy and seemless as possible.



I'd be clapping giddily for a sequel. I'd be hesitantly excited for a live action series. However, the cartoon we've been now promised seems a bit too distant to muster up anything worthwhile. Granted that the degree of creator and actor involvement remains the same throughout the production and development, I think that the show may have a chance, if it can play it's cards right. You won't see me placing any bets on the night of the premiere, but you will definitely see me tuning in.

Sidenote: I'd just like to say again, Napoleon Dynamite, if you haven't seen it, is an absolutely magnificent film and required watching for any self-respecting hipster. I won't waste any more of your time, go watch it immediately!

My Review Of "In The Aeroplane Over The Sea"

"This album is not cool." -Mark Richardson, September 26, 2005 (Writer at Pitchfork)

"I love you, Jesus Christ." -Jeff Mangum



Let's get this out of the way before I make another post.

I think that In The Aeroplane Over The Sea is a pretty awful album.

All this shit I hear about "OOH, IT'S A DREAM TRANSLATED INTO MUSIC. ANNE FRANK YALL TEE HEE" is a bunch of effing baloney. Why do people love and idolize this piece of shit? I think it's a pathetic husk of a freak-folk album that laid no tracks for the years of indie development to come. BrokenCyde takes better shits than this! (okay, that's hyperbole, but maybe Animal Collective does). Couldn't my brethren of the late '90s just have waited a year until The Soft Bulletin to come out 'til they found their crowning album? Hell, OK Computer was out by the time this came out. What happened to peoples tastes?



Jeff Mangum has to be one of the world's largest trolls. Look at that grin. He knows he got away with something, that reclusive fucker. He's like a two-bit Salinger.

The acclaim for this album seems to have also come at the turn of the decade. Pitchfork's original review gave it an 8.7, and then proceeded to fellate it with a perfect score after it got reissued. acclaimedmusic.net reports that it didn't pierce the top tens of any lists in 98. So why the love? Sure, ranking isn't everything, but how did an album this plainly acclaimed get so hyped posthumously? It doesn't make sense. I hope my generation hasn't made out Mangum and his cronies into false idols. Thank god they all quit the band. Actually I take that back, I would want them to sell out so that I could have a concrete foundation for hating them.

That's another problem: their disbanding. They come in, drop this shit, and pretty much back out. It's not like they were releasing new content that motivated people to look back in their discography. This makes the conundrum all the more confusing. There must be some kind of hipster version of the Evil Deceiver tricking people into thinking this shlock is good, and subjecting the rest of us to one of indie's greatest pains: barring from the esotericism. I refuse to believe that this is "too deep for me". Something terrible was afoot, and it left many of my fellow hipsters conned, still to this day.



Shame on you, Win Butler, for appreciating this album. You should know that Arcade Fire shits all over any of Neutral Milk Hotel's endeavors. Stand tall and proud, for you deserve the pilfered crown that sits on Mangum's hideous bowlcut head.



Yet, perhaps it's not so bad that this album was made. If bands and artists were truly inspired by this, then it has led them to create some of the great music we have today. However, I don't see how we can't leave this obsolete record behind and time and forget about it.

Also, I wish it wasn't posted on /mu/ every FUCKING day.



That's all I suppose. And if I sounded like a dick, then GOOD.

Sleigh Bells

Dirty-ass noise rock that sounds like the Bowser boss music from Super Mario 64?
Let me go change into another pair of pants.

Alexis Krauss and Derek Miller are Sleigh Bells, a Brooklyn duo forged in the oddest of circumstances. Supposedly, the story is that these two met while Miller was waiting on Krauss and her mother in some random diner. Somehow the topic came up that he was interested in a female vocalist for a project, and Krauss' mother volunteered her. Go figure... anyway, they must've got along pretty well considering their rising success and quality of music. They released a demo in 2009 to critical acclaim, and their first album, Treats, was just released Tuesday. I would recommend going straight for the album, since it contains the demo songs but they've been retooled (in my opinion for the better).

Krauss treads a nice line between Zooey Deschanel and Alice Glass, with great energy on stage but less OUT OF HER FUCKING MIND than Glass. And get this: previous to the project, she was a 5th grade school teacher. Needless to say I think I've found my new hipster lover.

Not gonna post some download links cause you should probably go pay for it (and if you don't want to you should know where to find it) but here's a couple YouTube videos of them.

"Treats" live, a track on the new album.


"Crown On The Ground", from the demo.


"Rill Rill", off the new album.