Coachella’s coming. As usual, I feel unprepared. No matter how many of these acts I know, there are always a huge handful of bands I’ve hear nothing about. So as Friday draws close, I’m hurrying to discover as many of them as I can. Because, you know, the better to organize my schedule before hand. Forget that pre-planning is a waste of time; I want to have a solid schedule of who I want to see so I have something to jettison when I get there.
Anyway, first on the list this week is Australia’s Midnight Juggernauts. Their official website references Air and ELO in its breathless bio on the group. And you know what? That’s about accurate. I’ve spun the debut album three or four times now and it’s got that danceable spacey quality that ELO was so good at, with sparkly, space-age synths and a nifty 124 bpm dance groove. Check out “Tombstone” to see what I mean.
I knew I’d been watching a lot lately, but this is kinda unreal. Bones sits in the number six slot of my last.fm chart this week. Also making a strong showing is Prince, but only because I’m trying digging through music for the upcoming wedding gig. Midnight Juggernauts are up there because I’m boning up (oh gawd–sorry) on their tunes before they land at Coachella. I don’t even remember listening to Dave Seaman, so I must have been hard at work on the latest client website.
Finally, James Holden’s Balance compilation turns out to be the perfect accompaniment to Los Angeles traffic. Seriously. It’s lithe and slippery electronica and it helps with the lane changes.
Looking over the early credits of composer Thomas Newman, I recognize that there still a few rare scores I’d love to have. Chief on that list is the music from Real Genius. I’ve got a lot of the source music, which is its own sort of joy, but the score is terrific. And it’s unavalable. Still, that hasn’t stopped the following scores from leaking out somehow, so there’s hope. As promised, and at the risk of coming off as a fanatic, three more samples of rare Thomas Newman:
This was Ron Howard at his best, when he was still doing comedy, before he thought he was a serious director. Newman’s score for the film is as varied and energetic as ever, often, as in the case of this track, within the same cue. He goes from quiet subtle tones into rollicking, guitar-driven passages and then drops right back into quiescence. I haven’t seen the movie in years, so I don’t remember how this piece of music was used, but it’s the quintessential stuff of comedy.
People remember this soundtrack for its hip, funky collection of tunes. Chiefly, there was the Bangles’ cover of “Hazy Shade Of Winter,” but artists from Glenn Danzig to Roy Orbison jumped into the fray. Lost in the party was Newman’s hunting, synth-driven score. The film was, at its center, devoid of heart, a hollow, glittering shell. Somehow the music, especially this particular piece, both augments and counteracts that emptiness.
I never did see Phenomenon. And I probably never will, unless I’m in, say, a Tulsa motel one night, with the television on, the remote out of reach and unable to use my legs. Why Tulsa? Whatever, I don’t know. The score is typical of Newman’s mid-Nineties output, with plenty of double reed wind instruments, melodic strings and a Quilt-y strummed guitar. It’s mostly innocuous, but since the original soundtrack issue contained only a token Newman track, it’s a nice addition to the collection.
LA MetrobloggingApril 16th, 2008 at 9:15 am · · Yet another impediment to my frequent posts here is that I’m now blogging over at metblogs.com. It actually makes sense. Back when this site was called Hollywoodland I posted about music, movies, writing and Los Angeles. Now that I’ve carved away that last topic I’ll need some place to post pictures of the Sunset & Vine building. · (0)
I’m going through my music folders in a near-frantic attempt to pull together everything I want to have at my disposal for the wedding gig in May. The wedding will require about five hours of music. According to iTunes, I’ve got a hundred and seventy two days’ worth. I’ve simply GOT to whittle it down.
In the process, I find myself short-handing some selections. For instance, one of my fallbacks is this piece, by Alberto Iglesias. It’s from his score for the film, Todo Sobre Mi Madre. Even if I weren’t a devout CW (that means credit-watcher, y’all) this moody, gorgeous bit of music, which rises at the film’s end, would have kept me rooted to my seat.
It might actually be too moody for quiet background music. At a wedding, I mean. With it’s string-drenched swells and that muted trumpet, it’s perfect for a dinner party. But a wedding wants something a little more tinkly, like Monk, or Dave Brubeck. But then, I’m not your typical wedding DJ. And I’m not getting paid for this gig. I’m doing it for friends. So I’ll play what I please.
Hey, rare Saturday post to say this: I got my turntables out of storage yesterday. I had to call the folks at bigbox.com to find out where they were. Turned out they were in Moorpark, which, in case you don’t know, from Redondo Beach is thirteen days’ journey by camel. Yesterday I called the folks at BigBox and told them to truck that crate out for me, hopped into the SuperBeetle and drove to the remote spot of the 118. There was my crate, standing naked and alone beside this massive warehouse.
My stuff.
So yeah, I’m spinning again, after an unwelcome eight month break. I’ve got this wedding coming up in May and precious little time to practice. It’s not a Prog House event, so I’ve also got to spend some time putting together dance sets. Did you know that Justin Timberlake’s “Sexyback,” Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” and New Order’s “True Faith” are all 117 beats per minute? I call that a happy fact. So is “Zenophile” by Mylo. If I can work that into the mix, I’ll be a happy DJ.
Oh, and the return of the turntables means there are podcasts on the horizon. Please try and contain yourself.
It’s been a while since I posted. I threw something up on Friday (the thing about Thomas Newman) and then I threw something up on Monday, but that was a different kind of throw up entirely. The kind that comes with being sick. I spent eight germ-free months in Santa Fe. Now I’m back in L.A. “Welcome back,” says the city. “Here’s your allotment of germs. We’ve been saving them for you.” So that’s why I haven’t been posting.
Oh, and then there’s Bones.
No one who knows me doubts my rabid fannishness over Buffy and Angel. But good things must come to an end and the casts of those two television giants scattered to the four winds in 2005. Charisma Carpenter lost her baby fat and did a year in Neptune. SMG skipped through a series of horror flicks. Alyson Hannigan has been everywhere.
David Boreanaz landed Bones.
A year ago, I reluctantly checked out “The Girl In Suite 2103,” an episode from the show’s second season. I was watching it because my friend, Bertila Damas, had a guest-starring role. I thought the show was awkward and weird. I had gotten so used to Boreanaz and his vampiric glower that it seemed weird to have him bouncing about in broad daylight. I dismissed it and went about my life. Now, a year later, I’m completely hooked.
Yeah, so instead of writing, I’ve been sipping Theraflu and watching Bones. The show is based on the books and career of Kathy Reichs, and it’s premise is that, blah, blah, blah. Let me just distill it down for you. Ten things about Bones:
When you’re crazy into a band or an artist, you seek stuff out. The harder it is to find, the more you search, and it becomes a sort of quest, especially when the existence of said material is rumored to exist somewhere. And when you finally get it, the acquiring becomes all the more sweet. The joy, for instance, of tracking down Thomas Newman’s Men Don’t Leave soundtrack was well-documented here. And since I offered to post more rare Newman this week, let’s get to it.
Starting at the beginning, this piece of music (as discussed here) was the first time I noticed Newman’s work. I was a movie theater drudge in Santa Fe. The year was 1985. My coworkers and I would crank the monitors during the end credits up in the booth/office when The Man With One Red Shoe wrapped each showing. This was why. It’s a rolling, laid-back piece of instrumental music, easy-going and saxy. Ask most people if they remember the film and you’ll get a blank stare. Ask me, however, and you’ll have to listen to me wax enthusiastic for half an hour.
I never saw this film, but of the legally-issued Thomas Newman scores, it’s one of the harder ones to find. An eBay search today shows a range from $10 to $85 bucks for the CD. The tone of this piece is closer to Men Don’t Leave in style, and hints at his more string-laden compostions to come. But that percussive element that I love so much is still very much evident. It’s a worthwhile acquisition for fans.
Alternately bombastic and moody, this is one of those atypical Newman scores that finds him dabbling in sounds we’re not used to hearing from him. It’s the only “horror” film he ever scored, so I guess we can chalk that up as a reason, but here he’s using electric guitar, large scale organ and rapid-fire percussion to build to that Santa Cruz Carnival of Horror that we all remember so well. The original soundtrack contained very little of the actual score and was geared, instead, to people who wanted to get their hands on Tim Cappello’s sax-drenched cover of The Call’s “I Still Believe.” Uh, no thank you.
Man, remember Emily Lloyd? She was the flavor of the year when this came out, thanks to Wish You Were Here, that button-cute comedy from 1987. Here, she gets Italian on us and slinks about in a Nora Ephron-penned mob comedy that failed to make an impression when it came out. The score is funky and jazzy and seasoned with a wheezy accordion sound, entirely befitting the smoky atmosphere of a neighborhood Trattoria, but there’s some of the trademark Newman sparkle as well, as evidenced by this short cut.
There’s more, but I’m out of time today. actually, it’s not that I’m out of time. I just can’t take the heavy oppressive marine-layer gloom that’s covering Redondo Beach today. I’m going to retreat somewhere warm and bright and get some work done. I’ll drop some more cool bits into the schedule for next week, so stay tuned.
Several weeks ago I blabbed about recent discovery, Love Psychedelico. I’m back. And here’s some more LP love. On April 29, Hacktone Records will release the Stateside debut of the Japanese duo, a collection of stellar tracks bearing the appropriate moniker, This Is Love Psychedelico. And yes, that about sums it up. This is it.
As I wrote before, they have a full, satisfying classic rock style, full of meaty chords and singalong melodies. Good luck actually singing along, however. Kumi’s lyrics drift in and out of English at will, and meaning becomes elusive. It’s like trying to study a landscape through the fluttering of a gauzy, windblown curtain.
And if you think that image was obscure and overwrought, there are plenty more where that came from.
It’s a pretty solid collection and seems to represent the band well, from the obviously beatles-inspired “Lady Madonna” to the country twang of “These Days” and the solid, acoustic melodica of my own fave, “Neverland.” I would have liked to have seen “Everyone, Everyone” or “Aha! (All We Want)” which are my own top tunes from the Japanese duo, but that’s merely an observation. The collection is as solid as they come.
I rather like the simplicity and elegance of muxtape.com. Upload songs. Arrange them. Send ’em out to people. It’s not unlike making an actual mixtape, except that there are no tapes. And you can skip and jump about at will (which I try to do in public as often as possible.) I tried it out, of course. I’m not one to pass up testing a new web toy. The results are here.
I think it’s a great way to update what’s on your music radar from time to time. And there’s a nifty RSS feed attached, which means I can keep a list in my sidebar. You can, too! I mean, if you really feel like it…
The current track list is almost entirely spontaneous. Something I just threw together in a manner of moments, looking through stuff I’ve picked up in the past little while. As I find cool, new stuff, I’ll add and shift and change things around. And if you don’t feel like clicking on the link, here’s the inaugural lineup:
The The “Lung Shadows”
The Kills “U.R.A. Fever”
Juliana Hatfield “I Can’t Kill Myself”
Love Psychedelico “Aha! (All We Want)”
Goldfrapp “Happiness”
Morcheeba “Hemphasis”
The Wombats “Moving To New York (Alt. Version)”
Vetiver “Been So Long”
Plasticines “La Règle Du Jeu”
Malcolm Middleton “Solemn Thirsty”
Thurston Moore “Honest James”
Mandalay “Insensible”
Enjoy. I was gonna post a funny picture and call it a day since it’s the Trickster’s Holiday, but I’ve got a meeting in the State of Hollywood this A.M. I gotta run.
Thomas Newman Posts RestoredMarch 31st, 2008 at 5:30 pm · · As promised on my 404 Page, I’ve restored the mp3’s to my Newman posts. I get a surprising amount of traffic from fans looking for info, including the occasional plea to re-post the tunes that I took down a year ago. Here’s the category. Just three posts. Check back later this week. I’ll post some more rare Newman before Friday. · (0)
I’ll be honest. It’s a bit shocking. I took eight months off and retreated to Santa Fe, New Mexico where I relaxed, got some work done, wrote two screenplays, wrote a novel, detoxed and slowed way, way down. I’m like one of those gym rats who’ve jumped off the treadmill for a moment to adjust his ipod and now that I’m trying to lower myself back on in that goofy, Flintstones way, I’m realizing the belt is really, really fast.
But I’m rested and I’m invigorated and I’m healthy and I know what I want, I even take supplements as kratom capsules to maintain my health. I realize the job market is still kinda on the suckish side, but I’m going to see what I can do to get one a job in the following areas:
Assistant to a Music Supervisor.
Assistant to an Assistant to a Music Supervisor.
Anything that involves working with and playing around with music in film and/or television including selecting, licensing, researching, sorting, beat matching, bloviating and completely baseless opining.
Coffee guy.
Oh, and need I mention? Successful Screenwriter belongs on the list there somewhere. Probably at the top. Or at the bottom, below “Coffee guy.” What I DON’T want to do is retail. I loved working at Rocket and Amoeba for those years, but I’m done with that. Forever. And I also don’t really want to do freelance web design, but I’ll take it for now, since at least I get to work in my pajamas.
This is just me, experimenting with the new Word Press gallery feature. It was a private post, so y’all didn’t have to see it, but it occurred to me that there’s just no such thing as too much PT Cruiser.
Gigabytes of Mu-ziqMarch 27th, 2008 at 6:16 pm · · Yes, this is my lowly first post since arriving in California. All I wanted to say is now that I’ve got my music consolidated onto one single drive, the total comes to 386 GB. Somehow, I thought it would be more than that. (brag, brag) · (0)
I’m going through my music folders in a near-frantic attempt to pull together everything I want to have at my disposal for the wedding gig in May. The wedding will require about five hours of music. According to iTunes, I’ve got a hundred and seventy two days’ worth. I’ve simply GOT to whittle it down.
Hey, rare Saturday post to say this: I got my turntables out of storage yesterday. I had to call the folks at 
No one who knows me doubts my rabid fannishness over Buffy and Angel. But good things must come to an end and the casts of those two television giants scattered to the four winds in 2005. Charisma Carpenter lost her baby fat and did a year in 
Several weeks ago I 
