"Take Away" These Shows

I probably should have mentioned this a while ago - as in when I actually found this Web site - but things were distracting. I was wandering through the depths YouTube.com and there appeared this lovely little professional-ish collection of videos by La Blogotheque. The first one I found was Beirut's "Nantes," but other gems such as Vampire Weekend's "Walcott" or "Mansard Roof" can be found on the site as well.

The collection's name is "Take Away Shows," or Les Concerts A Emporter. Did I mention that this music blog in in French? It is, at least primarily in the texts of the posts, but if you know of the bands you're looking for, you wont have a problem finding the names for videos in English. Or you can just go to their user profile.

While I'd love to stick another video of Zach Condon on the Internet, I'll pass on The Shins' "Turn A Square," "Past and Pending" and "Australia" instead. Apparently they just organize little street or car-ride performances whenever bands come through Paris mostly and tape them.




Currently, La Blogotheque has got names such as Yeasayer, Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear, and Dirty Projectors up there.

First WALL-E Trailer

After a couple teaser trailers we're finally given a real one. Like Duncan always says, Disney/Pixar/etc love to pimp out their movies years before it actually releases. WALL-E doesn't hit theaters until June 27th, but let the anticipation begin.

The Incredibles and Cars didn't really do anything for me. I didn't see them, of course, but just the premise of both was lacking. Ratatouille was amazing though, so I may give this one a shot.

The Who, What, Where and When on Why?

When most people think of rock stars, they think of the exuberant, over-the-top partiers. Yoni Wolf, the lead singer of Oakland, Calif. rock experimenters Why?, talks about how he manages to find time for himself on the road; getting his hands dirty in all facets of the recording of their newly-released record Alopecia; and how he plans on escaping the non-stop music extravaganza that is known as South by Southwest.

Edward Gaug: You personally have been in a couple different music outfits, including cLOUDDEAD. How did Why? come to be?

Yoni Wolf: Well, I started recording stuff called Why? when I was younger, sort-of a solo project early on, and then kind-of evolved into a band later on over the years.

Gaug: You said you started when you were younger; what were your inf luences at that point? With a mix of indie-rock and hip-hop, Why? has a unique sound.

Wolf: I don’t know. I was watching a lot of Kids in the Hall and Monty Python when I was growing up, listening to a good amount of Bob Dylan and sort of that kind of older stuff a lot. It’s hard to say what your inf luences are because you are pretty much inf luenced by everything around you. It’s hard to pinpoint stuff that like; it’s just where I’m at at a certain place in time and what I’m around—that kind of stuff mostly.

Gaug: On the new record [Alopecia], the song that stood out for me was “Good Friday” just because of how the lyrics f lowed. Is there anything that you do specifically when you write your songs that develop into something like that, compared to what you might hear in other bands?

Wolf: Yeah, I think I just try to block out any preconceived notion of what any song should be about or what it’s supposed to be or sound like. To be honest and true to the moment that I am in and try to just find how I might feel at certain moment and put that into words; to relay that to people, so that I can try to get something across to people while I am alive, without this filter of what everyone else does. [It’s] my conception of what people would want a song to be about.

Gaug: You said earlier that you started off Why? as more of a solo project, compared to a band that is on this record. Are there any different approaches you have to take because you have more people working with you now?

Wolf: Yeah, it changes everything. Every new person that you bring into the mix will change the dynamics. It’s weird to have social dynamic as the process of making any sort of art, I guess. It’s a tough thing. In some ways I feel like, it’s sort of a solitary pursuit in some ways, or certain aspects can be. The part of the process where you’re recording has a little more craft involved, and you’re figuring out how to get the song across in the best way; and that part of the process can be really good to share with people. Different opinions can meld and merge into your production basis. I have been doing collaborating with not only my bandmates but with other hands on deck, like the recording engineer and mixing engineers and mastering engineers; those kind-of science guys. They really knew their shit and it made it really easy to be creative while they worried about the technical shit. I mean, they’re creative too; Eli Cruz really had a lot to do with how the record sounds.

For the rest of my interview with Why? click here!

Oops! Almost Missed This. Academy-Nominated Live Shorts and Other Upcoming Goodies

I know I said I would post about this last month, but it totally slipped my mind. Real Art Ways in Hartford is currently running the 2007 Academy Award Nominated Live Action Shorts until tomorrow. So you can check them out both tonight and tomorrow at 7:15 p.m.

The shorts include:
At Night (Om natten)
"Three young women share their problems while spending the holidays in a hospital cancer ward."

Academy-Award winner The Mozart of Pickpockets (Le Mozart des Picketpockets)
"A pair of unlucky thieves find their fortunes have changed when they take in a deaf homeless boy."

Tanghi Argentini
"A man who must learn to dance the tango in two weeks asks an office colleague for help."

The Substitute (Il Supplente)
"The arrival of an unusual newcomer galvanizes the students in a high school classroom."

The Tonto Woman
"A cattle rustler meets a woman who is living in isolation after being held prisoner for 11 years by the Mojave Indians."

Links go to the trailers at IMDb. Sorry for the lack of easily-accessible YouTube clips, but there just weren't any.

There's also two other movies of note that I've been interested and slightly interested in seeing. The first one is Once.

"The Irish romance Once may be a musical, but it is miles away from the traditional Hollywood idea of people bursting into song. Glen Hansard (frontman for indie rock band The Frames) plays the guy, a street musician who is playing for change when he meets the girl (Marketa Irglova), an immigrant from the Czech Republic. The pair immediately bond over their shared love of music (he is a guitarist, and she plays the piano), and the film chronicles their tentative relationship." - synopsis from Rotten Tomatoes, which by the way has the film at a 97% fresh rating.

I almost rented/bought this movie a few times. I've seen the trailer (above, obviously) a handful of times and it looks like a solid movie. Definitely one worth taking your significant other/date out to as it doesn't seem like an obvious chick flick, but it certainly looks to have some of those qualities. Once begins playing on Friday at 5:30 and 9:30 p.m. and runs until next Wednesday, March 19.

The second movie on Real Art Way's calendar that I know we've talked about here, probably on a podcast, is Teeth. I don't know if I actually want to see this movie or what. It's...scary, weird, etc.

Also from Rotten Tomatoes, "Writer-director Mitchell Lichtenstein’s feature debut is a horror comedy combining elements of atom-age 1950s horror films with mythology and feminist theory. The result is a smart, sassy B-movie satire--funny, gross, and with a high squirm factor."

The movie is 80% fresh on the site, so it must have something going for it. The movie doesn't open up at Real Art Ways until March 28, but I figured I'd give you a heads up.

Busy Day Tomorrow

We haven't seen a Thursday this packed with quality music in a while. There's really something for everyone and in all price ranges. (Free being my personal favorite).

We mentioned some of this in the podcast, so there's not too much to say. Actually, shit, there really is nothing else to say besides check the calendar to your right and pick one. I'll be in New Haven seeing The Walkmen and Titles. I thought about going to see the Black Lips but I did a little math and it didn't work out.

My Desire to See the Black Lips - $12 - the Drive to Cambridge > My Desire to See The Walkmen + FREE - the Drive to New Haven.

As usual, if you go to any of these shows please let us know how they go and if you have any photos send them are way and we'll post them up here, giving you credit of course.

Sunday is busy too, but we'll look at that later.

PS: A big thanks to Lori for giving us the lowdown on the Ghastly City Sleeps show.

Minus the Bear + Short Shorts

The new Minus the Bear song is called "Throwin' Shapes," and while I'm not super excited about the song - yet - this video has taught me something about short shorts and nerds: namely I don't want to see those two together. But appearances here and these like this video are acceptable, and funny. It worked when Michael Cera played Bleeker in Juno, but maybe he was less of a nerd.




This song is off MTB's Planet of Ice that came out in the summer of 2007 and the video was directed by Michael Gaston and Brooke Montgomery. It debuted on mtvU recently.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Out Today! Believe the Hype.

I guess I didn't lie a couple posts ago when I said I would be playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl all night. Once midnight hit I went over to my nearby GameStop and have pretty much been playing it ever since.

Impressions you ask? Well, if you enjoyed the previous two installments at all you're going to enjoy this one. If you fall in that category you've pretty much waited six years for Brawl and it does not disappoint. To give you an idea from where I'm coming from though: I was never a huge fan of Smash Bros. I had both of the earlier ones, but the game never won me over. However, online play really takes this game places it should have been years ago. Thanks to the GameCube being so far behind the times we've been playing a perfect game for online play offline forever...not anymore.

Although, there are some issues with online play. For one, you can't communicate in any way with the random people you're fighting. That can be seen as good or bad. As I waited in line to get the game this evening - err this morning - there were a few kids with their parents and I'm sure those parents are happy to know there won't be people like me cursing at their kids as I get knocked off the screen. I don't mind not having some creepy dudes or weird kids talking to me in my living room either. Though I think there should be some way to have a text-based chat room while you're waiting to enter a game.

I'm about two hours deep into the single-player mode and I have to say it is a lot more fulfilling than it has ever been. To be honest, I don't even recall a real single-player mode in the previous games, at least not one with a psuedo-storyline, so it couldn't have been that good.

The best part of all is seeing characters in completely different franchises teaming up together or battling each other. It reminds me a lot of the first time I played Kingdom Hearts and I was like, "Holy shit, Peter Pan is kicking Cloud's ass." (For the record, I don't even remember if that happened - I'm tired - but you get the idea). There's a lot of holy shitting going on and I'm pretty excited that I'm this excited over it. To throw more video game nerdness out there: Tales of Symphonia may be the last game I was this almost 100% happy with. (Another for the record, I still haven't played Super Mario Galaxy).

Obviously if you have a Wii and you liked the previous games even a tiny bit, you're probably playing the game now or plan on waking up nice and early (aka three hours from now) and buying the game somewhere. However, if you have a Wii with no intentions of buying this game, I definitely recommend you rent it or invite yourself over your friend's house - one of them is bound to have it. The expanded single-player mode is certainly a good reason, but a game like this really comes down to the multiplayer mode and the online play just made this game fun for people who don't have friends. Hooray for strangers.


PS: E-mail us if you want to exchange friend codes because I'll be looking to do that soon.