Album review! Weezer - The White Album

Weezer put out a beach rock inspired pop-rock album that despite not being quite the reenactment of their 90’s stuff some people seemed to be expecting from them, its strongest feature might be that it doesn’t aspire to be that either and in that sense not only does it live on its own but it also happens to be their best record since Pinkerton.

Weezer seems to be type of band doomed with having released fantastic records in their beginnings, which means any record they put out will unfairly have to live in the shadow of their earlier material until the end of time. Just to make this clear, this isn’t the blue album and this certainly isn’t Pinkerton either but every new Weezer album doesn’t have to a new Pinkerton in order for it to be considered good enough according to the standards they set years ago in the 90’s. It just has to be Weezer-ish enough; the good, geeky, kind of leftfield, lively and fun band they’ve always been at their core, which is something that honestly has been missing in their music for quite a long time…until now, that is.

What this new white album really is, isn’t a blatant effort by the band to try to drop a new Blue album or a new Pinkerton, but instead this an album that sounds the most Weezer they’ve sounded in ages and that can only be a good sign. The main reason why I had my reservations about this new record is that some of the singles that led up to its release were rather uninteresting and to me they’re the album’s weakest tracks, particularly songs like “King of the World” or “L.A. Girlz” that to me, sound like filler tracks from the green album era.

The good news is that for the most part this is a highly enjoyable record and there’s a lot here to please any Weezer fan or anyone looking for a fun, well-produced and quirk album that resonates both with teenagers and adults who haven’t yet forgotten they once were or maybe still are teenagers at heart. The album kicks off with “California Kids”, a song that has surf rock written all over, with these sea sounds and seagull sounds at the beginning and a chorus that instantly reminds of The Beach Boys. Indeed the album sort of sticks to this beach rock theme to the end.

“Wind in our Sail” pretty much heads down the same beachy road and it contains one of the many charming choruses you will find here. “(Girl We Got a) Good Thing” might be the most Beach Boys song on the album is also one of the catchiest. The lyrics, as usual when Weezer do things right, are genuinely enchanting and verses like “Dancing, twirling, playing on the tambourine, we'll crush the scene together, marching onward oblivious to all the hate around us we can self-publish a book of our philosophy and hand it to the tourists” are bound to put a silly grin on many people’s faces.

“Jacked Up” and “Endless Bummer” also stick to the beach thing theme only that in different ways. Endless Bummer starts off as a kind of slower track, reminiscent of their 90’s era on the lyrics department, with punchy, funny lines like “I'm all alone at night dreamin' about my life. She was too fast for me, I count my steps because I'm OCD” and a pretty awesome guitar solo near the end of the song that makes the song really stand out as Rivers Cuomo drops an irresistibly funny closing line that goes “Kumbaya makes me  get violent, I just want this summer to End”.

“Jacked up” is very interesting because it’s got a fun, dancey reggae tone that totally works and it’s easily one of the strongest singles of the album in terms of overall appeal. Rivers Cuomo’s falsettos in the choruses are a distinctive mark of the song and the lyrics are sort of romantic in a Weezer way, which means lyrics like “Come you beautiful alien and touch me with your light” or “Say those forbidden words to me, eagle girl”.

“Do You Wanna Get High?” and “Summer Elaine and Drunk Nori” are two of the most Pinkerton reminiscent moments, especially “Do You Wanna Get High?” and both are fantastic examples of classic Weezer tracks, the first of which has a pretty sweet guitar solo that infuses the song with a lot of personality instrumentally speaking and that’s more than welcome since the lyrics aren’t precisely the sharpest ones on the album so the music definitely saves the day here.

The album has some issues in addition to weak singles like the ones I already mentioned. “Prom Night” while lyrically endearing is also sonically uneventful and didn’t do much for me and with “Thank God for Girls”, probably the album’s biggest single, it happens somewhat the opposite, well, to some extent. Instrumentally speaking it’s super catchy, featuring some boisterous guitars, good drumming and a nice, kind of dancey vibe to it but some of the lyrics are just a bit too quirk even for Weezer’s standards and they feel a bit cringe-worthy at times. However, this isn’t that much of a big deal since the song’s tongue-in-cheek tone and often funny observations on gender stereotypes regarding women, weird as they might come off sometimes, are mostly enjoyable and certainly very original.

On the whole, I think there’s plenty to enjoy about this record. This isn’t a career changer, by no means, for Weezer and it certainly isn’t another Pinkerton or another blue album. This is a thoroughly entertaining record and to be honest, all the classic Weezer’s trademarks are present here: Funny, quirk lyrics, nice guitar work, catchy singles, a strong youthful vibe, everything is here, and while it might not be the life-changing classic some might have been expecting, it definitely is one of their most interesting albums to date and coming from a band like Weezer that means a lot of fun guaranteed.   

You can listen to some of the album's singles in the link down below:

https://soundcloud.com/weezer

The Iron Giant: Probably the coolest American animated film and why its message still matters a lot now, maybe more than ever.

Brad Bird’s The Iron Giant might very well be the coolest American animated film to date and it’s such an exercise on top-notch animated film-making that to my mind, it can sit with the best Studio Ghibli and Pixar films you can think of and not feel out of place at all. There are numerous reasons for that. For one, 2-D animation never looked so good, to be honest, it was captivating despite the movie’s rather low budget and the character design of the Iron giant by Joe Johnston is outright exquisite, he literally owns the screen every time he’s on screen; he’s lovely, charismatic, charmingly naïve and truly warm-hearted; you care about him so much because anyone who’s ever felt out of place, misunderstood or lost at any point of life can easily relate to him. Anyone who’s had to struggle with not knowing who they are and what their essence as human beings is and means will find a relatable soul in the Iron giant’s character and the music score was excellent.

Much like Princess Mononoke’s conservationist message, The Iron Giant’s strong anti-violence, anti-war message is profound, genuinely moving and it matters now more than ever. The whole concept of a highly destructive war machine in the late 50’s, cold war period that doesn’t want to kill and actually perceives guns at enemies as it learns the value and meaning of having soul is simply brilliant or brilliantly simple, depending on how you look at it and in any case it certainly makes for an undeniably awesome concept. Right now, with so many issues happening in the world and with the ghost of nuclear holocaust haunting civilization again, the film’s unassumingly beautiful message should strongly resonate with audiences around the world, now more than ever. Surprisingly, this wonderful example of what animated film-making should be like received a very lukewarm box office reception and right now, even though it was re-released not long ago, I do think watching that film is still very relevant, perhaps now more than it’s ever been.

 “You are who you choose to be”. On a personal level, I think that phrase got stuck in my mind and became somewhat of a life direction for me ever since I watched the film for the first time and that simple yet candid lesson the iron giant ended up learning (and we too, through the iron giant’s eyes) is basically the essence of the character itself and moreover, the heart and soul of the whole movie.  A movie equally enjoyable by both kids and adults alike that cleverly and respectfully makes use of its powerful and emotionally charged themes to plant an idea like a seed in our minds: that kindness is there for us to take as long as we want to be the better version of ourselves we can get to be; that nobody can say our nature isn’t noble because our nature is nothing but what we make of it and nothing, not even the somber ghost of war can change the essence of who we decide to be, the essence of who we really are.

Album review! Tacocat – Lost Time

Seattle punk-pop/surf-rock band Tacocat managed to put out an album packed with loads of carefree attitude, funny lyrical pasagges and an irresistible beach rock vibe that delivers exactly what you expect from a band named Tacocat, all while keeping things highly entertaining from start to finish.

I suppose that when you’re in band called Tacocat putting out music that lives up to that name can be quite trickier than it might seem at first glance and in that sense I think the biggest reason why this album works out so well is because that’s exactly what Tacocat accomplish here: 12 infectious, brisk-paced and heavily surf-rock inspired songs that make the best out of its short running time thanks to insane catchiness, well-written lyrics and a musical approach as unassuming as it is entertaining.

What you get here is an assault of immediate, in-your-face punk pop tracks dealing with all sorts of observations on rather ordinary and trivial subjects in a way that feels so bubbly yet sharp-written at the same time that you just want to get yourself loose and dance to whatever it is that they’re singing about.

The opening track Dana Katherine Scully is a pretty breezy kick-off to the album and lyrically speaking is just what you’re thinking if you have ever heard of the X-files; a song that pays homage to the cult classic sci-fi television show originated in the 90’s and more especially to one of its main characters, none other than Dana Scully. The song boasts some hilarious lines like “She’s the only one thinking it through, she’s got the shoulder pads, no nonsense attitude” or a chorus that goes “The truth is out there but so am I, to see the world through Dana Katherine Scully’s eyes.

The tracks that follow keep things as youthful and funny for the most part. “I Hate the Weekend” is so ridiculously catchy that even on an album teeming with catchy moments it stands out for how catchy it is. Plus, lyrically speaking is a refreshing take on the typical let’s go out to have fun and do what I like because it’s weekend formula. It’s the strongest single on an album full of singles.

Apparently, their contempt for weekends is only on par with their love for their hometown. The track “I Love Seattle” ensures a few chuckles at the silly vibe of it and on top of that the melody is particularly infectious too. “Night Swimming” showcases what to me are some of the most hilarious lines on the album, as singer Emily Nokes explains that she doesn’t care about beaches because they’re too crowded and she prefers night swimming instead because “who cares if the sign says ‘closed’, I want to some see some UFO’s, call me if you’re still awake”.

“You can’t fire me, I quit” right from its title makes you inevitably smile, especially at lines like the chorus “oh no, you’re not breaking up with me, oh no, I’m breaking up with you, actually” and “Leisure Bees is a solid closing track that brings the album to an end on a good note despite some weird and a bit annoying instrumentation that makes the song feel as if it had some sort of false endings for some reason, and it boasts some sweet lyrical passages (“the values that you want are the ones that you can make”) and again, some humorous lines (“Give us six dollar wine, wear your pajamas ‘till the end of time”).
  

The album certainly has its flaws, though; sonically speaking sometimes the albums feel a bit too repetitive since the music is blatantly meant to be pretty straight forward.

The production is a little too rough around the edges at times too, and in cases like on the track “Men Explain Things to me” the weird production sort of ends up ruining the song. The track “FDP” didn’t really do much for me and the track “Talk”, while instrumentally speaking was a nice attempt to try to do something bit different (the tone of the song is clearly heavier), to me it just didn’t work out all that well for some reason, although there are some interesting, funny lyrical highlights in it at least.

“Lost Time” might not be an album full of deep concepts and bold ideas that will permanently change people’s minds about anything but it clearly doesn’t aspire to be that; it’s very clear from the get-go that this album is all about having carefree fun, and putting a silly grin on your face as often as possible and on that department it is quite a success.

Not long ago I described Tacocat as a band that sounded as if a bunny and a guinea pig decided to form a punk-pop band; fluffy yet riotous, and that’s exactly what Lost Time is: a reminder that when done right, honest, straight forward music can be just as meaningful (and sometimes more) as the most technically accomplished music out there and one the funniest and catchiest records you will come across this year.



You can listen to a couple of tracks from Lost Time in the link down below:

https://tacocat.bandcamp.com/album/lost-time-3

An honest critique on music critique (featuring cute kitty pics!!)

The cool thing about a critique of pretty much any type of art, is that it opens the discussion about the art being critiqued, favoring the exchange of ideas and the variety of ways in which art can be appreciated and interpreted, in few words, a critique is an honest expression based on someone’s personal points of view of what a particular piece of art means…or at least that’s what it should be to me.

In music, some media, particularly magazines and music websites can have a very strong influence on people’s final decision to whether or not give an album a try these days, especially on young audiences, and that’s alright, I don’t think that’s bad at all, what I find disturbing is that music publications are perfectly aware of the influence they have and sometimes they will make use of it to either blatantly promote some artists regardless the music they put out or irrationally undermine the work of others, which to me, sometimes feels as if they were “clearing the way” for the artists they promote to gather more attention, attacking “the competition” so to speak, instead of giving an objective opinion on the music being reviewed.

What that means is that sometimes, instead of acting as a means for music discussion and exchange of opinions the reviews become an attempt to control and manipulate reader’s points of view and not only is it very insulting to people’s intelligence and capability of having opinions of their own but it also makes the sometimes blurry line between journalism and propaganda even blurrier and completely discredits the honesty and objectivity of the content published by some of the most well-known music magazines and websites.

Another frequent issue I have with music critique nowadays is how biased some reviews are in terms on how much a reviewer lets their own expectations on what an album should sound like according to what he wants to listen to get in the way of their objectivity. I can think of quite a few examples of that but I’ll talk about this year’s DIIV’s “Is the is are” because it perfectly exemplifies that point to me. The album received quite a few mixed reviews, especially in comparison to their debut album “Oshin”, and I’m not saying there’s something wrong with giving “Is the is are” a bad review if that’s how the reviewer really felt about it, I’m questioning how fair most of those rather negative reviews were as it is mind-boggling to me how, objectively speaking a reviewer that praised “Oshin” would bash “Is the is are”.

Frankly, I have yet to read a review that explains, using argumentation that actually makes sense why “Is the is are” was such an underwhelming album in comparison to “Oshin” because none of the arguments put forward to justify that thought on the reviews I’ve read so far hold water.

What is my opinion on what happened then? I think some reviewers gave that album a rather lukewarm reception because they expected the band to do something different and were not willing to give the album a more fair review unless it met their expectations and demanding an artist to make the type of music that you want them to make and then criticizing them for not having done it instead on focusing on the real essence and substance of the music being reviewed is very unfair to the artist and also leaves a lot to be desired about the person making the review.

In other cases I think the lack of personality is to be blamed for some of the negative reviews on “Is the is are”. But that’s far from being something new. If you’re attentive enough when you read a review, you can quickly spot how many publications pretty much copy-paste the opinions of others and consistently keep doing that week after week all year long maybe to fit a certain paradigm that they interpret will earn them more recognition and prestige and perhaps that ends up conditioning their opinions in a negative manner despite they are aware of it or not.

It’s in those cases, when music publications seem to be way more interested in being labels in the practice than in promoting music discussion or when the personal expectations of a reviewer get in the way of their own ability to judge art completely free of needless preconceptions that music critique loses credibility. I also have personal mixed feelings about music publications that give numerical scores to albums as I think it’s sort of a way to treat readers as people with no capability to discern things and interpret the context of what they’re reading; as if they needed the almighty, benevolent guidance of a savvy music connoisseur to help them understand what makes an album a 7.1 and what makes it a 7.2 (?!), not to mention those some of those scores are ridiculously cheesy.

I think, if anything, some sort of “this music is for you if you like this” recommendation is way more useful than a numeric score for people to get a better picture of how up their alley or not an album might be for them because really, just by reading the damn thing people are perfectly capable of picking up on when a review is favorable, when it is more mixed and when it is negative and that’s what truly matters in the end not numbers…oh, and I actually have very similar opinions about grades in school!

A music publication or reviewer must always keep in mind that music critique is about inspiring people to talk about music, to share music, to perceive music in different ways. Trust and credibility come from how honest your work is seen and perceived by the people interested in what you write/talk about and I’m afraid music critique has lost a lot of that over the past years, which might explain why many people are more and more turning their heads at bloggers and youtubers.

Maybe people are trying to get that sense of authenticity that makes them feel, at least in a way, genuinely related to what they’re reading regardless they share the same opinion or not; like a sense of “realness” if you will, that they can no longer get from more traditional media. Personally, I think that’s awesome. As long as bloggers and youtubers keep their eyes open to avoid overlooking some of the most essential things about what music critique should be all about, music critique will continue to be an important part of experiencing and discovering new music for many people!

Now, for the moment of truth, the real reason behind this post, here are a couple of cute cats wearing headphones pics! 

Bookworm issues rants

Being a bookworm is great. Every time you read a new book you get to live again; if you read a hundred books you’ll get to live a hundred lives.  However, being a die-hard book lover comes with its problems and I’ll try, speaking from my own personal perspective, to touch down on the ones that represent the biggest bookworm pet peeves to me.

·         When you lend someone a book and even when someone you know wants to borrow one of your books, particularly if you happen to be fond of that book, it can be somewhat of a problem, really.

Now, I don’t mean to sound selfish or anything, but let’s be honest, at least in my case, 80% of the time when you lend a book to someone they’ll give it back to you let’s say not exactly how it was when you lend it to them, and while I know that sounds like a tad obsessive, and really, being obsessive over books is a common trait in plenty of bookworms, I assure you that’s not the case here because by “not exactly how it was” I mean in a variety of annoying conditions that range from mistreated and sometimes loose pages to some deep, serious apocalyptical scenarios for any book lover out there, such as coffee marks or even worse, pages that has been written on.

So, the thing is, sometimes when you get asked to lend someone a book or even if you voluntarily want to lend that book to someone you know, some sort of inner moral dilemma of epic proportions takes place in your mind as your struggle with your desire to share that book that brought so much joy and fun into your life with someone you know so that it can have the same effect on them but also, at the same time you sort of try to avoid others getting their hands on your “precious” out of fear for the conditions in which they might return it to you or even worse, whether they will actually return it at all (believe me, that has also happened to me quite a few times).

·         Ironically, walking into a bookstore can pose quite a difficulty for most book lovers, for pleasant reasons in most cases, sure, but still a difficulty nonetheless. Usually there’s no middle ground here,; chances are either it’ll be impossible for you to walk into a bookstore and not get something or you’ll curl up on the floor while crying desperately because the place is crowded with tons of cool stuff and you’re so broke that you literally can’t buy a bookmarker, yet you’ll keep looking around torturing your own poor and exhausted bookworm mind.

·         When you start compulsively getting more and more books the space quickly becomes quite an issue before you even know it.  There seems to be something about books that completely disables the area of your brain responsible for physical perception because it’s like the less space you have the more books you get and it never occurs to you to ask yourself where the hell you’re going to put them and so it is that books start piling up everywhere, on shelves, on the night table, on the floor, EVERYWHERE.

·         That feeling when someone interrupts your reading…Yep, even talking about it is infuriating. Much like when you’re listening to music it seems some people aren’t capable of understanding that reading a book stands for do not talk to me, do not approach me, in fact do not attempt any sort of human interaction with me if possible; to put it bluntly: Do not disturb, beat it! Reading is an intimate and magical moment of your day that must be respected and that incapability some people have to see it that way leads me directly to my next point…

·         I’m talking about the lack of empathy many people around you seem to have toward what the process of reading might mean to you on an emotional level, especially at work but also at school/uni/whatever and at home. It’s puzzling for some people to accept that you can get so attached to a fictional character in a book that you end up caring about them…a lot.

In fact, those characters become a part of your life to such extent that depending on what they’re going through in the book your mood may or may not change accordingly, which means some days you might feel depressed or angry or worried about the fate of your favorite characters but many people will interpret it as weird mood swings for no apparent reason.

What’s even more frustrating is that when you try explaining others that you’re so invested on what’s going on in your book that it actually kind of affects you, you’ll get lots of incredulity faces and infamous words thrown at you like that stupid word  “overreacting”, ugh, I hate that word…

Of course, there are countless bookworm issues examples I can talk about for hours and I think everyone has their own personal list of annoying bookworm issues but in my case, those are the ones I most frequently run into and also the most hassling ones. What’s curious is that books are so awesome that, in a very strange and hard to put into words way, even the issues Inherent in being a bookworm can be sort of charming in a sense, so vivan los bookworms!! (and their bookworm issues)    

Brush Hour: Toulouse-Lautrec

Painting might very well be my favorite form of graphic art. There are plenty of artists whose works I deeply admire and have caused some sort of special personal impact on me somehow for whatever reason. Among that special group of insanely talented personalities that have shaped my love for painting or art in general for that matter, one that truly sticks out for me is definitely none other than French Post-impressionist wonder Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

The reason for that is that rarely have I come across an artist capable of translating his personal vision of life and feelings about the society he lived in into his art in a way that was as irresistibly eye-grabbing and stylish as it was honest and impactful. It was all class A style on the surface but at the same time heavily complex and personal, especially once we understand who Toulouse-Lautrec was a person and all the obstacles he had to struggle with pretty much all his painfully short life. Because of his physical appearance he always felt like an outcast, like a misfit, he was a punk-rocker of his time; only that to me, his way to expose some of the contradictions and shallowness the decadent society he lived in yet never was a part of was teeming with, was through painstakingly accurate and striking observations instead of rabid choruses and fast-paced defiant guitar riffs.

He portrayed the female figure in a way unrivaled in his style, so much that during his career he managed to craft an intimate depiction of lesbianism at the time that was pretty much eroticism-free but instead genuinely warm, not to mention he also painted prostitutes in a very classy and enchanting way, as complex, maybe misunderstood and certainly strongly relatable characters. It’s no surprise that many Parisian nightclubs were delighted to exhibit his works as he truly captured the essence of the nightlife at the time like no other, as well as the heart and soul of female characters.

For me, the reason why, in terms of aesthetics, his depiction of feminine figures was so amazing is because he understood femininity in a way very few men, especially at the time, ever could, probably because of having spent so much time surrounded by the company of prostitutes, and to me, those were the times that made them feel a certain degree of acceptance; it was then that he felt part of something, at least for a while and it’s plain to see by taking a quick glimpse at his work, that he drew a lot of inspiration from those times and goes to show how cathartic it must’ve been for him to express his feelings through art .

A lot can be said about his personal life or his technique that made his paintings so dynamic that it seems almost as if they were some sort of insanely colorful drawing that was magically brought to life and was breathing and moving before your very own eyes. However, personally, I think it was that unique way in which he managed to distill all that torment and sadness and inconformity he was feeling and then took that all to his paintings with lifelike humanity and gorgeous, delicate beauty, that made him what he still is today: One of the most authentic, sensible and soulful artists of all times!! Oh, and his posters and illustrations were pretty nice too! :) 

Album review! Mothers - When You Walk a Long Distance You Are Tired

Former Art-school student Kristine Leschper’s indie pop/rock band project Mothers crafted an album as haunting as it is reflective, carried by vocals packed with loads of personality, sharp lyrics and a riveting jazzy and folky vibe.

Although “When You Walk a Long Distance You Are Tired” was officially released on February 26^th it wasn’t until sort of recently that I became aware of its existence and decided to give it a try and now, after having listened to if quite a few time I can safely say better late than never. Coming from the surprisingly vibrant scene of Athens, Georgia, Kristine Leschper quickly gained a well-deserved recognition for her live shows that inevitably led up to the formation of Mothers as a full band and then to the recording process of their debut album, a debut album unusually strong and full of ideas.

The first thing I have to say about this record is that Kristine Leschper’s Joanna Newsom inspired vocals are definitely the deal closer here; vocals capable of coming across a seemingly endless range of feelings and emotions in an equally compelling and candid way. When she’s worked up, when she’s afraid, when she’s anxious, when she’s bummed out, you always believe her, every line she sings feels so real and vivid that  you never dare questioning her feelings and motivations.

However, alluring vocals wouldn’t mean much if they weren’t accompanied by lyrics that lived up to them and luckily for Mothers and for us Kristine Leschper truly stands out in the songwriting department as well. The track list may seem a bit short for an LP (only 8 tracks) but the length of songs totally makes up for it. Most of the songs are rather lengthy, ranging between 5 and over 6 mins almost of all them, and during that time Kristina Leschper takes us to an affected, contemplative, emotional and even gloomy at times, journey through self-discovery, physical discomfort, unrequited love and more.

The opening track “Too Small For Eyes” showcases some of the deepest and most affected moments of the entire record lyrically speaking, dealing with not being comfortable with your body and feeling lost as person, delivering lines as powerful and direct as “I hate my body, I love your taste” or “I think I’m at my best when nothing is needing me” or the even more affected closing line “I want to apologize to everyone I see, I want to apologize to everyone I meet”. That track pretty much sets the tone of the rest of the album.

The next track “It Hurts until It Doesn’t” picks thing up where “Too Small for Eyes” left out and deals with doubting yourself as person and trying to find a meaning in your life. Once again very insightful lyrics: “I felt alive for a little while but when I died I had the time to notice I was crushed by the weight of my own ego but never honest enough to say it”. The last line goes: “I don’t like myself when I’m awake” and I think that perfectly captures the essence of the song.

“Copper Mines” is my personal favorite. Instrumentally speaking is pretty crafty and the lyrics are incredibly good. The song is pretty much about unrequited love and struggling with doubts of not being good enough for the person you like. The line “This is me mouthing words to you from the longest distance” captures that essence perfectly and those last “Never mind” with which the song closes off are sung with such affection that it’s even spine-chilling to listen to. The rest of the album pretty much maintains this mood, with some remarkably clever moments of darkness here and there, like the line “everything you touch turns to gold, everything I touch turns to away” on the track “Burden of Proof”.

Instrumentally speaking, what happens here isn’t extraordinary but fits the album just fine for the most part and gives the vocals enough room to shine. The production is raw and clear with some lush string arrangements showing up on the song “Nesting Behavior” and subtle, brittle keyboards that accompany Kristine’s sometimes even more fragile voice in a satisfying way.

This album’s biggest downfall to me, is that sometimes everything seems so uniform that more variation, instrumentally speaking, is definitely missed and some passages, especially in the slowest tracks, feel overly one-dimensional at times and given the length of most of the songs on this record, those passages kind of water down to some extent, the lasting appeal of some tracks. That slightly humdrum lack of variation is only accentuated by the fact tracks like “Copper Mines” or the first half of “It Hurts Until It Doesn’t” boast some very interesting and dynamic leftfield twists that prove the band is, indeed, capable of coming up with more nuanced song structures when they go for it.

Luckily, the afore-mentioned problem doesn’t show up very often and I don’t think there’s such a thing as a completely tedious track on this record as the band make sure there’s always something interesting going on for the most part,  mostly in the lyrics department or thanks to Kristine’s irresistible and charismatic voice. On the whole, “When You Walk a Long Distance You Are Tired” is a very solid and surprisingly mature debut for Mothers that puts them in the spotlight as one of the most interesting new indie pop/rock acts out there and as a promising talent to keep an eye on in the future.

You can listen to the whole record in the link down below!

https://mothersathens.bandcamp.com/album/when-you-walk-a-long-distance-you-are-tired

Album review! Frankie Cosmos - Next Thing.

NY based artist Greta Kline, aka Frankie Cosmos comes through with a new record that feels just like the perfect natural evolution from Zentropy mostly because the feelings surrounding her personal evolving process from her Zentropy self is what she deals with here. 

When I first heard Zentropy, Greta Kline’s first record as Frankie Cosmos, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I knew nothing about her or the type of music she made but I heard some very nice comments on it, particularly about her songwriting and also about the fact that the album’s closing track happened to be a mourning song about her dead dog. That song made the last 2 minutes of the album feel more intense and engaging than most part of the movies I’ve seen in quite a while. Needless to say, that album became an instant favorite of mine and I was very expectant of what she would come up with next, especially because while I loved On the Lips, one of the tracks she put out prior to the release of this album, I wasn’t really taken by Outside with the Cuties.

Well, the good news is, although Next Thing certainly doesn’t feel quite as fresh as Zentropy, it totally lives up to the expectations and it’s still one of the coolest indie pop/rock records of the year so far. One of the most incredible things about Frankie Cosmos, in addition to her peachy vocal melodies, is her talent as a songwriter, and more specifically, a talent few possess to make her albums feel like a ridiculously charming collection of life experiences vignettes. 

Short stories is one of my favorite literary genres and when I listen to Zentropy or Next thing, it feels like the perfect musical expression of the words I imagine written on the dusty pages of a short stories compilation by some talented indie poet and that feeling is present more than ever here on Next Thing.

Greta brings in the help of her buddy Gabrielle Smith, aka Eskimeaux, for the occasion, and she provides bright and subtle keyboard arrangements in this musical diary through her transition to adulthood. Speaking of friendship, her appreciation for her friends is clearly noticeable on the track “Embody”, where she compares some of her friends to “a lightbeam” as well as to an embodiment of “grace and lightness”. and rops fantastic lines like: “Everybody understands me but I wish nobody understood me so you could be the one who did.”

“What if” is, lyrically speaking, another standout track that has one of the greatest lines on the album, as she addresses a very interesting and frustrating thing we quickly become aware as we grow up, especially in this day and age, when she points out:  “When you’re young you’re too young, when you’re old you’re too old.”  The track “Fool” is my absolute favorite both lyrically and instrumentally because of how in a charmingly simple and painfully honest way she conveys disappointment and regret with masterful precision (“I thought we could eat bread, I thought we could talk on darker days with our boots kicked off, you look to me and I look away though I had been looking”).

Other tracks like “Too Dark” convey a similar feeling only that the tone is sort of darker and more brittle. At the same time, Frankie Cosmos proves herself capable of putting together fantastic more single-oriented songs like “On the Lips” all while staying true to her unique ability to turn ordinary daily life observations into first class modern poetry.

I guess my biggest complain about the album is basically the only complain I had with Zentropy too, that sometimes the instrumentation is so minimal that some songs seem a bit uneventful in comparison to others, only that this time around this is more evident as unlike Zentropy, which was a 10 tracks album, this record has a total of 15 tracks and for an artist who relies so much on her lyrics that sometimes becomes a problem when it feels as if what’s going on sonically, doesn’t match her words in the most suitable way or when some of her references are a bit too personal to feel as relatable and then more variety to the instrumentation is certainly missed.

On the whole, Next Thing definitely sounds more cohesive and nuanced than Zentropy, as a combination of instrumentation and songwriting but even so, the last impression seems just a little bit less solid than in Zentropy.

However, the best thing about Frankie Cosmos is how much of a skilled lyricist she is, as well as her unassuming honesty that reminds us that even the most mundane things in the world are worth experiencing, appreciating and sharing, and all of that remains completely intact here, which totally makes for yet another sincere and poignant collection of lovely, musical short stories.

You can listen to whole record in the link down below!

https://ingridsuperstar.bandcamp.com/

So, you’ve decided to start reading/writing poetry? Welcome!!

Reading has always been one of my biggest passions ever since I first heard of The Brothers Grimm, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry or Edgar A. Poe when I was a kid and it’s definitely something I’ll be posting about a lot In the future!! I’m a proud bookworm and my relentless, unstoppable and maybe a bit obsessive search for new interesting reading material is almost legendary :P

Perhaps it helped that I grew up having tons of books at reach around me, giving that my mum has always been an avid reader, but in a hard to put into words way, I’m sure fate would’ve brought literature into my life sooner or later nonetheless, I feel like that’s a love that was meant to be, if that makes sense. However, there’s a special place in my heart for poetry. Poetry means a lot to me because it represents the first time I started being interested in a certain type of reading that wasn’t only what my mum had available at home but something I was really curious about even if my mum wasn’t a big fan of it.

When I was kid my mum never really had that many poetry books in her collection, perhaps just a couple, and my first readings corresponded mainly to the type of books my mom either would buy for me and my brother or for herself. She had one collection of stories by Edgar A. Poe and amidst all those fantastic stories there was a poem that really grabbed my attention, unlike the first poems I ever attempted reading; to put it in a nutshell: It was the first time ever a poem clicked with me on a deep, emotional level and after that I started looking up first, more poems by him, then more poems by similar authors and finally, I ended up becoming a hardcore fan of poetry of all sorts. That poem was none other than The Raven!

I’m planning on writing some sort of review on The Raven soon because it still is my favorite poem, but where I’m trying to get is that sometimes for some people reading poetry, because of its somewhat abstract and emotional nature, can be pretty daunting. Sometimes people just don’t know where to start and their lives go by without finding a single poem that does for them what the Raven did for me. However it is very much possible. One of the first things people interested in getting into poetry for the first time but having some reservations about it should know is that you don’t have to be a savvy expert on metrics and verse styles to enjoy poetry; you just need to experience poetry in a slightly different way from say, reading novels.

Poetry appeals, more than any other type of literature, to our feelings, it makes for the reader what some post-rock music makes for me, it makes them feel emotions but in a more abstract yet ethereal way, it speaks directly to the heart and soul to make them feel something especial, and I understand that sometimes, particularly nowadays, it’s not easy to be in the right mood to enjoy poetry, especially when you’re not too used to reading poetry. There’s nothing you should be worried about, though, as that’s perfectly normal; just because you don’t often feel in the mood for reading poetry or you haven’t come across a poem that you find particularly relevant, that doesn’t mean you won’t ever be in that mood or you won’t ever find the right poem for you, all of which leads me to my next point…

Some people tend to believe that a poem is like a set of words that rhyme and sound nice together and talk mostly about love, in a sort of very dense way. 

Well, boiling poetry down to that would be very inaccurate and sometimes people genuinely interested in poetry can’t find “the right poem”, for the lack of a better term, because they believe there’s only one way to read/write/enjoy poetry when it’s completely the opposite! Diversity in poetry is ridiculously huge. Many people in fact, aren’t aware of the existence of something called Free Verse, which is one of my favorite types of poetry, by the way. One of my hobbies is writing short stories and poems and when it comes to poems I mostly write free verse stuff. Free verse is basically an open poetry, where rhyme and metrics aren't used and it can be just as emotionally resonant as any other form of poetry.

Some people have told me that they don’t feel that interested in poetry because “that’s for people who are in love” and the thing is, love poems can be nice, but it’s far from being the only topic that can be touched down on in a poem. In fact, I think there might be more sad or melancholic poems out there than romantic poems, and poetry deals with a bunch of subjects, such as social criticism, particular moments or situations from the past that meant or still mean something, thoughts on the future and present, the perception of reality, nature, philosophical themes and even cute cats :) I’ve read quite a few; there’s a lot for everyone and everybody is welcome!!

I think it’s all about finding something that appeals to you but again, the same thing can be said about literature in general. In that sense I recommend checking out a pretty interesting website called Poemhunter to find some inspiration (http://www.poemhunter.com/). You can find a lot of poems about pretty much anything in the world there and to cultivate the habit of reading poems I suggest saving the ones you like the most and creating your own poem collection!! I’ve got mine saved on my computer and looking for new poems and saving them is pretty fun. Sometimes some relaxing music and tea/coffee/whatever relaxes you helps as well, although that’s good for reading in general not only poetry ;) I’m much more into getting physical copies of books than getting PDF copies and for some reason I can’t really explain physical copies of poetry books feel more especial than others, there’s something oddly nice about holding a poetry book in your hands.

Poetry isn’t this esoteric thing that can only be appreciated by a handful of intellectuals keen on cognac and weird mustaches some people seem to believe it is, that’s a negative misconception; some of my favorite poems are pretty simple in structure but talk about something that gets to my heart and that makes them especial, after all, the same thing happens with songs, a simple song can be exceptionally good if it clicks with us.

Likewise, if you feel like start writing poems as a hobby, you shouldn’t feel intimidated by it. I know I’m far from being a great poet but you don’t have to be very good at what you do to enjoy doing it, and poetry isn’t a competition to see who’s got the most beautiful style, perhaps that’s sort of what it meant centuries ago but poetry is about expressing yourself in all honesty, it’s about stripping yourself of all personal constrictions and shy boundaries and accepting that all your thoughts matter and that it’s alright to express your feelings because we’re human beings.

The essence of poetry is exposing a part of yourself or your life that you consider worth writing about for whatever reason; then, try putting all that into words in a way in which how pretty it sounds isn’t necessarily the most important thing but how genuine and emotional it feels and there you go, congrats! You just wrote a poem :)

Why, to my mind, Princess Mononoke might very well be the coolest animated movie ever made.

I recently re-watched Princess Mononoke and I was as smitten by it as I was when I first watched it, so much that I decided to write my first post ever about what makes it the coolest animated film of all times in my opinion.

There’s a good handful of reasons why animated movies rock. The amount of hard work required to create and bring an animated movie to life, especially creatively and artistically speaking, is nothing short of stunning and definitely something to be admired by anyone who considers themselves a film enthusiast, even if animated films aren’t quite up their alley for whatever reason. What makes an animated movie so cool is the power they have to convey an amazingly varied array of feelings and emotions sometimes in one single frame. Animated movies can be so magical, that after a few minutes, we can totally forget that we're watching hand-drawn or computer animated characters and they feel as real as ourselves to us.

Plot-wise, animated movies have only grown more complex and mature over time, and a fine example of that would be movies made by Laika studios or most part of Studio Ghibli’s filmography or that fantastic animated movie called Song of the Sea (a must watch for anyone interested in animated films and also, Irish, Celtic stuff). However, some animated films show that simplicity, when handled right, can also be thought-provoking and endearing even if, in theory, the plots might seem rather simple. Films like Dumbo or My Neighbor Totoro are proof of that. What makes an animated movie truly stick out for me is how universally relatable it is to the audience watching it, no matter the age. Sometimes it takes a more somewhat complex plot, with deeper characters and serious situations to do that and sometimes, at a more visual level, all it takes is a second, sometimes all it takes is Totoro’s heart-melting smile or Dumbo’s eyes when he stares at his mom’s eyes.

There are many levels on which an animated film can be enjoyed; some people go see animated films just for the artwork alone but It’s that perfect marriage between story-telling, beautiful art and relatable characters what makes an animated film truly memorable, that perfect combination of charming simplicity and fascinating complexity and in that sense Hayao Miyazaki really is like no other in the business.

It’s hard for some Miyazaki fans to pick just one favorite movie by him, but for me, it’s fairly easy, it is Princess Mononoke. Why? Because it’s the ultimate representation everything that makes Hayao Miyazaki the best animated film director of all times to me: The strongest and most complex of all his female characters, his most complex and thought provoking take on conservationism and environmentalism, flawed, relatable characters reacting in very natural ways to the conflicts on screen and add to the mix the usual gorgeous animation and lovely soundtrack Studio Ghibli is very well-known for and what you have is the recipe for true animated awesomeness.

Princess Mononoke is the kind of movie that leaves you thinking long after the credits roll, in such a way that it can be truly life-changing; it makes you see important things from a different angle and for people with sensible hearts, its impactful, raw but ultimately inspiring (and I mean very inspiring) message might stick with them for the rest of their lives, same as it stuck with me ever since I first watched it many years ago. On a very personal note, I can say that having watched that film for the first time had a great impact in the way I care about sustainability and nature so much now and it also played a role in my decision, years later, to become a vegetarian.

When Miyazaki created a character like San, he challenged all western princesses’ archetypical conventions and blew them out of the water.  He created the ultimate princess character, one that was independent, strong. headstrong yet sensible, and complex, a character completely unlike the outworn westernized princess stereotype that needed the help of others, particularly of men, to be able to stand on their own and be someone, in other words, San’s essence makes her the quintessential female character every female character in an animated film should be like: She’s said to be a Princess but she’s a princess that never calls or considers herself a princess, yet we all end up seeing her and respecting her as one (and not precisely because she wears fancy dresses or a shiny crown), and above all else, she’s REAL female character.

Even lady Eboshi, as a female antagonist, was very special in that while plenty of her actions were outright wrong, she also proved herself capable of empathy and compassion and the complexity of her motivations made her a truly outstanding character and that’s the great thing about Miyazaki’s movies, that they avoid black and white, good vs evil story-telling, his movies are as colorful and nuanced as life itself. There’s one scene, though, that to me, being a nature/animals lover, perfectly sums up the impact of its eco-friendly message.

 At about 1:52 mins into the movie, when Eboshi was trying to kill the Forest Spirit before it transformed itself into its nightwalker form,  even though Ashitaka was constantly telling her in vain to stop, trying to make her understand that the Forest Spirit was not her enemy but an alley, and then as Eboshi tried desperately to pull the trigger the Forest Spirit made flowers and plants grow out the her shotgun thus causing it to jam, and then it smirked at Eboshi with this truly amazing ironic expression, with the satisfaction of someone who knows they already won the battle because the Forest Spirit proved a point that couldn’t be argued, that war and destruction won’t ever be as powerful as peace and creation, and it showed that not only to Eboshi but to the audience as well, and it did it without having to say a single word.

Respect for nature, respect for others, respect for LIFE is what Princess Mononoke is all about and it comes across that message in such a highly emotional and spiritually rewarding way, that to me, being a fan of the genre, and also being keen on conservativism, it might very well be the most meaningful and touching animated movie ever made and what is a movie in the end but a form of art which ultimate goal, much like it is with pretty much every other type of artistic expression, is to make us feel something that appeals to us, something that, at least for one moment, reminds us that it is so fun to be alive? :)