Posted by: Bart Blasengame on Feb 09, 2010 at 10:31AM1 Comments
Portland filmmaker Matt McCormick’s debut feature film, “Some Days are Better than Others,” starring James Mercer (The Shins) and Carrie Brownstein (ex Sleater-Kinney), will be debuting next month at this year’s South by Southwest Film + Music Festival in Austin Texas.
Screening details (times, days, and locations) will be announced to fans via Twitter and Facebook. The film will screen multiple times during both the film and music portions of the festival March 12-20, 2010. So far no word on a Portland premiere but follow these links (www.twitter.com/somedays_movie, www.facebook.com/pages/Some-Days-Are-Better-Than-Others, and www.somedaysthemovie.com) for the latest news.
In other Shins-y and Sleater-Kinney-y tidbits, here’s the first song and video from Broken Bells, the side-project from Mercer and beat-master Danger Mouse:
And here’s Brownstein with her sometime comedic partner Fred Armisen (also known as Thunder Ant) making a rather hilarious appearance in the new St. Vincent video for her song, “Laughing with a Mouth of Blood.”:
Oh, and did I hear you say you wanted to hear a new Decemberists song? Thought so. Here’s good ol’ Colin debuting one called “Springville” during a solo gig in Australia. Nice beard, man!
Details emerge of James Mercer, Danger Mouse collab
Posted by: Bart Blasengame on Dec 15, 2009 at 10:00AM0 Comments
There’s been a gurgling in the news of late about a musical collaboration between the Shins’ James Mercer and superstar DJ/producer Danger Mouse (of “Gray Album” and Gnarls Barkley fame). Now the gurgling is reaching a melodious apex thanks to the indie rock sleuths at Stereogum.
The project is called Broken Bells and it now has a website, brokenbells.com. All you’ll get there is some fancy flash animation and the chance to sign up for a newsletter. If, however, you’d like a tiny little sample of what’s to come from Mercer and Mouse, head to ebbelkslorn.com. The name of the site is an anagram of Broken Bells and once there you can hear looping samples from what we assume the eventual album will sound like (though you might need to hit refresh a few times to get the song to change).
No release date has been announced yet but we’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, perhaps this clip from the duo’s previous working relationship on Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse’s “Dark Night of the Soul” album will give us a clue of what to expect.
Posted by: Bart Blasengame on Dec 01, 2009 at 10:00AM1 Comments
Today’s the day, kiddos. Head on over to your local iTunes store and download the Decemberists latest audio-visual treat, “Here Come The Waves: The Hazards of Love Visualized.” A colorful post-script to their much-loved last album, “Hazards of Love,” the title pretty much sums it up as the muliple-movement record gets the full-on cinematic treatment.
Our copy is still landing on the hard drive, but so far we can tell the movie (helmed by four directors: Peter Sluszka, Julia Pott, Guilherme Marcondes, and Santa Maria) includes shadow puppets, polar bears, cardboard oceans, bleeding flora, giant eyeballs, and leaves. Lots and lots of leaves.
It’s hard to think that a great album could get even better, but hey…we’re a sucker for the random dancing badger or exploding skull.
Posted by: Bart Blasengame on Nov 24, 2009 at 10:00AM2 Comments
Quasi, which recently signed to the now-based-in-Portland Kill Rock Stars label, have announced their new album. It’s called “American Gong” and will be released early next year. Oh, and did you hear that the crew will be playing a New Years gig at the Doug Fir where they’ll be performing nothing but Who covers? If Keith Moon were reincarnated as a drum smashing, badass chick, her name would be Janet Weiss.
Spoon has moved up the release date on their new album, “Transference,” by a couple of weeks. The record will now hit on January 19. If you can’t wait that long, I’m sure they’ll be playing some new tunes when they stylishly rock the Crystal Ballroom on December 11.
Oh, and if you get sick of football, turkey, and meandering conversations with your cousins once-removed, you should know that you have an escape button this weekend. Local noise-pop heroes, Helio Sequence, are playing the Crystal on Saturday…their first Portland headlining show in a year.
Posted by: Bart Blasengame on Nov 12, 2009 at 09:00AM0 Comments
We told you awhile back that the Flaming Lips had filmed a video on Mount Tabor for their song “Watching the Planets” that involved a giant inflatable bubble, fur-covered giant rubber balls, and dozens of naked Portlanders on bikes.
Well, the result is finally up on the Internets.
Let me take a second to warn you in all caps: THERE IS LOTSANDLOTS OF NUDITY (tasteful of course). Even the Lips’ Wayne Coyne gets in on the act. To repeat: LOTS OF NUDITY. DO NOTFOLLOWTHISLINK IF IT OFFENDSYOU.
So, uhm, yeah. Try not to let the dangly bits get in the way of the fact that the song an absolutely rad kraut-rock stoner pop gem.
Bart Blasengame is a senior editor at Portland Monthly magazine. A native of Arkansas, he comes to Portland after spending six years as a staffer at Details magazine in New York City, where, he admits with much shame, he helped popularize the term “metrosexual.” The line to punch him in the stomach begins at the corner of SW Oak and Broadway. Blasengame has three dogs (one of which is named after his personal hero W. Axl Rose), a patient girlfriend, and a unhealthy obsession with ping-pong, Intervention, Razorback football, and AC/DC karaoke.
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Bart Blasengame’s dim-lit corner of the world revolves around local arts and entertainment: Previews, reviews, and small features. But since this is his domain (and since he runs almost entirely on caffeine and snark) he’ll also pontificate on the world around him in his own wise-ass way. Other times he’ll just poke things with a stick.
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