A blog with a bit of everything in it.
I review movies, talk about music, make art, scribble cartoons, write about boxing, you name it.
And who am I?
Screenwriter. Animator. Illustrator. Fighter. Lover. What's not to like?
[This was originally posted on Facebook only, but I thought I'd make it a bit more accessible and get in in here. Just forgot about it for a couple of years].
MY YEAR IN MUSIC
2011 is coming to an end, and I figured I'd start looking back on some of the music that has emerged on my horizon this year. It's not all new, it's not all brilliant - but it all interests me in some way or another. I thought I'd share.
ROUNDUP: Despite the massive popularity and colossal feedback (1 "like" and 0 comments in 9 posts), I realize that I have to finish my "year in music" look on 2011. Xmas is approaching fast, and I'm running out of time. I'm sure there's much I will forget to mention, but I'll do my best to include a few interesting elements here.
* Tom Waits' new album, "Bad As Me" is an absolute joy. Of course it is - it's Tom F'ing Waits. Small variations on the same theme, as always, but so what? Dismissing Tom because of that, is like dismissing whisky and claiming it all tastes "basically the same". * Kate Bush released "50 Words for Snow" in 2011. Seven long, long, meditative songs that kinda hypnotize you and creep you out a little as well. Better than I expected. * I have yet to delve deeper into My Brightest Diamond's latest album, "All Things Will Unwind", but I'm looking forward to that. Go listen to track #5, "Be Brave", if you don't know why I'm so excited about it. * My old favorites Primus released another album this year, called "Green Naugahyde". I've started to forget about it already. I haven't been real excited about them since '97, so I just hope this new album may get Primus back to Oslo, where I can see them play some of their old tunes. * Everybody's excited about Mastodon this year. Well... they're OK. I'm trying to like them more, but I don't know why I'm trying so hard - I guess I just feel I should. * I can't remember any Norwegian bands that have thrilled me this year either. Too bad. Either I forgot something, or it's been a weak year. Maybe everything just looked pale and shitty, next to 2010's "Blackjazz" from Shining.
That's it. I'm closing everything off in exquisitely random fashion, with a video that didn't even come out in 2011, but in 2010. Only reason it's here, is that it's a cool song and a funny video, and that I've watched and listened to it about 4397649 times over the last few weeks. And it's 2011 now. So.
[This was originally posted on Facebook only, but I thought I'd make it a bit more accessible and get in in here. Just forgot about it for a couple of years].
MY YEAR IN MUSIC
2011 is coming to an end, and I figured I'd start looking back on some of the music that has emerged on my horizon this year. It's not all new, it's not all brilliant - but it all interests me in some way or another. I thought I'd share.
#9: Florence + the Machine I'm pretty sure I'm the last person to discover her (that is, Florence Welch), but I find it important to point out someone who sticks out in this ever-more confusing landscape of solo artists: There are talented singers, wasting their voices on boring "soul" tune after tune; there are untalented singers, getting rich on their flamboyant style alone; there are manufactured stars; there are pretentious navel-gazers who make music for themselves alone; fallen stars who cling desperately on to fame...
... and there is Florence and the Machine. Whatever category you want to put her music into - and her two studio albums show several different influences - there's always that one thing that lifts her music way above the rest: her voice. Whenever that voice is put into a conventional frame of music (which does occur a bit too often on both albums), it's subdued and has no space to move - but when the song allows it... wow. Ranging from ethereal, heart-wrenching beauty to ridiculous, bone-shattering power, her singing talent is a true revelation to me.
I had a hard time finding something from this year's album - "Ceremonials" - that wasn't speeded up or slowed down, so I went for the popular "Cosmic Love" from her previous album, "Lungs" (2009).
[This was originally posted on Facebook only, but I thought I'd make it a bit more accessible and get in in here. Just forgot about it for a couple of years].
MY YEAR IN MUSIC
2011 is coming to an end, and I figured I'd start looking back on some of the music that has emerged on my horizon this year. It's not all new, it's not all brilliant - but it all interests me in some way or another. I thought I'd share.
#8: Fair to Midland
I stumbled across Fair to Midland shortly after their third studio album, "Fables from a Mayfly: What I Tell You Three Times Is True", was released in 2007, and at first I didn't really know what to think of them. Fragile vocals with with strange power hidden inside, synth and powerful guitar riffs shoved into a bizarre metal/prog/pop package, which... oh, never mind. I can't even begin to describe them properly.
Bottom line - Fair to Midland is a unique animal, in my opinion. They do lots of things with their music that shouldn't work for me at all - but just does. They're the kind of band that may be superstars one day, or just as likely stay in (relative) obscurity forever.
Their fourth album, "Arrows and Anchors" (2011) first struck me as much weaker than "Fables from a Mayfly", but grew on me for each new listen. Then it faded. Then it grew more. That's just the way Fair to Midland works, I guess.
Check it out, and make up your own minds.
[This was originally posted on Facebook only, but I thought I'd make it a bit more accessible and get in in here. Just forgot about it for a couple of years].
MY YEAR IN MUSIC
2011 is coming to an end, and I figured I'd start looking back on some of the music that has emerged on my horizon this year. It's not all new, it's not all brilliant - but it all interests me in some way or another. I thought I'd share.
#7: Foo Fighters
Dave Grohl's top-notch rock band may not have been as long in the game as, say, Red Hot Chili Peppers, but since Foo Fighters' formation in 1994, they've managed to churn out seven albums, all by fairly regular intervals. Plenty of experience, plenty of mileage.
Personally, I felt that Foo Fighters had been in in a (very) slow, but steady decline since the excellent "There Is Nothing Left to Lose" (1999), and I had started to put them in the same category as the aforementioned Red Hot Chili Peppers, albeit at an earlier stage of musical erosion. I had started to write them off.
Then "Rope" played on the TV, and promptly kicked my ass around the room like a stray pinball.
That first single hooked me right into what for me was the best rock album of the year, "Wasting Light", and rekindled my love for Foo Fighters. For pure rock energy, for the songs that make you want to pull out that air guitar, for the sound that makes you want to shout until your voice is gone - accept no substitute.
[This was originally posted on Facebook only, but I thought I'd make it a bit more accessible and get in in here. Just forgot about it for a couple of years].
MY YEAR IN MUSIC
2011 is coming to an end, and I figured I'd start looking back on some of the music that has emerged on my horizon this year. It's not all new, it's not all brilliant - but it all interests me in some way or another. I thought I'd share.
#6: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Now for a change in tone.
In 2011, RHCP released their 10th album, no less, in a career that spans 28 years. Impressive, you might say - going through so many changes, experiencing so much, and still appealing to so many people. Fine. Impressive. But their latest album is boring and tame, and so is the one before that. And the one before that. In fact, their last five albums have been sub-par (to put it mildly), compared to the potential that lies within the band.
"I'm with You" (2011) is a half-assed pop hybrid version of RHCP, "Stadium Arcadium" (2006) is a thinly stretched collection of uninspired tunes, "By the Way" (2002) is honest, but godawful, "Californication" (1999) is half-hearted, but occasionally entertaining, and "One Hot Minute" (1995) is... just kinda puzzling and unlovable.
So why do I include them in my list? Just to take a dump on a once-great band that's turned old and lame? Not just. The real reason I mention them, is that 2011 marks an incredible 20 (twenty!) years since Red hot Chili Peppers released what by most people is considered to be their finest album - "Blood Sugar Sex Magik".
So - happy anniversary, Red Hot Chili Peppers! It was the start of a downward spiral, but what dizzying heights to fall from!
