Why is it good?
At some point during the late 90s, shoegazer darlings Slowdive decided to make a left turn, took the hickory-smoked road of country music, and changed their name to Mojave 3. This was like the musical equivalent of Michael Jordan ditching basketball for baseball. In both cases, the decisions made no sense at the time. The difference of course is that the Mojave 3 experiment actually worked.
"Excuses for Travelers", I feel, is their most solid album. It's a small miracle to hear an erstwhile British "white noise" guitar band fully embrace the melodramatic country music ethos. Then you realize midway through that British Indie does sound like a paler, more northern version of Gram Parsons. This seemingly unholy alliance turns heavenly in songs like "Prayer for the Paranoid" with such country-meets-Morissey lines like: "this town don't want drunkards or singers of bad poetry/they want dancing and drugs and laughter/we don't have them".
What this marriage of sensibilities ultimately achieves is a kind of music sadness that's, well...relaxing. So for those who wish to wallow in depression but are afraid at the prospect of a nervous breakdown, this is the perfect softcore sad bastard album for you.
What memories (fake or real) does it inspire?
This actually came at the most opportune time. I was OD-ing on depression and needed a new, more graceful, prettier-sounding soundtrack. You know what? (HYPERBOLE ALERT!) Mojave 3 may have actually saved my life.
# 8 Movie: “The Squid and the Whale” (2005)
At some point during the late 90s, shoegazer darlings Slowdive decided to make a left turn, took the hickory-smoked road of country music, and changed their name to Mojave 3. This was like the musical equivalent of Michael Jordan ditching basketball for baseball. In both cases, the decisions made no sense at the time. The difference of course is that the Mojave 3 experiment actually worked.
"Excuses for Travelers", I feel, is their most solid album. It's a small miracle to hear an erstwhile British "white noise" guitar band fully embrace the melodramatic country music ethos. Then you realize midway through that British Indie does sound like a paler, more northern version of Gram Parsons. This seemingly unholy alliance turns heavenly in songs like "Prayer for the Paranoid" with such country-meets-Morissey lines like: "this town don't want drunkards or singers of bad poetry/they want dancing and drugs and laughter/we don't have them".
What this marriage of sensibilities ultimately achieves is a kind of music sadness that's, well...relaxing. So for those who wish to wallow in depression but are afraid at the prospect of a nervous breakdown, this is the perfect softcore sad bastard album for you.
What memories (fake or real) does it inspire?
This actually came at the most opportune time. I was OD-ing on depression and needed a new, more graceful, prettier-sounding soundtrack. You know what? (HYPERBOLE ALERT!) Mojave 3 may have actually saved my life.
# 8 Movie: “The Squid and the Whale” (2005)
Why is it good?
In 1995, Noah Baumbach wrote and directed one of my all time favorite movies, "Kicking and Screaming". It was an achievement in subtlety, dry humor, and realness. In 2004, he teamed up with Wes Anderson and co-wrote the geeky filmmaker's first of an ongoing series of "what the fuck was that?" movies, "The Life Aquatic". It had subtlety, dry humor, and elaborate un-realness.
A year later, Baumbach does "The Squid and the Whale", a movie that recalls the realness of "Kicking and Screaming", but also demonstrates the tragic humor and pop-hipness of Wes Anderson. In a story about the shortcomings of intellectual life, of motherhood, of fatherhood, and of adolescent discontent, there isn't a more appropriate formula.
The theme-treatment congruency for this film is especially acute. In exploring the memory-sabotaging effect of divorce on children, Baumbach uses the grainy old-video feel of the Super 16mm camera. As a result, the whole movie looks and feels like an old, fragile memory. While less talented filmmakers create melancholy through obvious, over-the-top dialogue, Baumbach chooses to literally paint his movie with it.
This film marked the start of Jesse Eisenberg's so-far-so-good career, my first positive movie experience with Laura Linney, and the complete and utter destruction of "Fly Away Home", a nice quaint movie where Jeff Daniels played Anna Paquin's dad. If you love that movie, but haven't seen "The Squid and the Whale" yet, just keep it that way. Promise me, please.
What memories (fake or real) does it inspire?
Inspired by this film's heart-wrenchingly brilliant 80-minute runtime, I fantasized getting away with a slow but short entry as a Cinemalaya 2007 semi-finalist. You know what turned out to be slow but short? My experience as Cinemalaya 2007 semi-finalist.
What does this list say so far?
I know what you're thinking: lots of sadness so far. First of all, get used to it. This list isn't going to get any cheerier soon. Second of all, at least give me credit for a little versatility here. If my number 9s were all about romantic and cinematic sadness, these two were all about real sadness...albeit popified. As Mojave 3 and Noah Baumbach both demonstrate, your art can be more compelling if you mix it up with other stuff. Then you realize that Linkin Park and Evanescence exist. Let's just forget about them and pretend that my conclusion is universally correct.
album cover and movie poster from amazon.com
0 comments :
Post a Comment