I’ll keep this short as this post is fueled mostly by absolute exhaustion:
I have a new life goal. I’m not going to far as to say that achieving this will be my finest hour, but it’ll be six and a half of my finest minutes. That goal: kiss a pretty girl while listening to Gayngs‘“The Last Prom on Earth”. I’m not even going to say why. I mean this with absolutely no irony attached. I implore you, watch the live performance video, and hopefully you’ll understand.
“Relayted”, the debut album from Gayngs, is out on Jagjaguwar now.
Three posts in three days? Who would have ever thought.
I attended the closing gala for the Atlantic Film Festival last night and enjoyed a couple drinks with friends, so safe to say I am spending the first part of today quiet and at home. I started doing a little adventuring for new music and stumbled upon something I should’ve stumbled upon ages ago: How To Dress Well. It’s the brainchild of Tom Krell, a researcher-by-day (!) and since October 2009 he’s been releasing tracks on his blog (which can be found here).
He just released his debut full-length, “Love Remains”, through Lefse Records (Low Sea, Neon Indian) and it’s stellar lo-fi R&B. He riffs with a haunting voice most easily compared to Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and it sails over cloudy beats and obscured soft synth pads. Although never one for pigeonholing, reading different definitions of the genre led me to my new favorite foolish industry invented term: “below-fi”. Listen for yourself, and see if How To Dress Well is for you. If it is, let me know. I’m interested to hear what people think.
Full post on “Corridor” related thoughts coming. Still sort of processing. Although I fear the more I think the less reactionary and more rehearsed it will be.
I’m currently working with the Young Neptune Company at Neptune Theatre and we’ve got what I think is an adorable and exciting show on our hands. It’s called “Jelly Belly Makes Garbage Delight of Alligator Pie” and (if you’re familiar with him you’ve figured it out by now) is entirely based on the work of Dennis Lee. It’s a delightful little story of three children who live in a dumpster and are the best of friends. It’s high energy, incredibly physical and features both music and choreography. Why am I telling you all this?
Well, on Sunday, September 26th you have a chance to see it for free! That’s right, as a part of Culture Days the Young Neptune Company will be presenting a free show of “Jelly Belly” at 2pm at Neptune’s Studio Theatre on Argyle Street. The show features the lovely Lisa Rose Snow, the sensational Allison Basha and myself under the direction of Charlie Rhindress. It only runs 45 minutes and if you have young ones or young cousins/nephews/nieces, bring them along! No better way to relive childhood than by watching us act like kids. Hope to see you there!
I was at the Atlantic Film Festival screening of “The Corridor” last night (a film I worked on that essentially spurned the creation of this website) and I was speaking with the writer, one Mr. Josh MacDonald.
He remarked that I had been neglecting my website. I could do nothing save agree with him completely. He commented on my “a bad friend returns with gifts” post and how he was looking for music recommendations. I immediately came up with a damage plan and told him that today I would be crafting a post simply titled “for you, josh macdonald”. I told him it would feature 10 bands that I’m listening to that I feel he’d enjoy. I am offering the same to anyone else who is reading this right now. They may not be “the latest and greatest”, but it’s what I can’t stop listening to right now (and the top 3 come with videos!).
When I get my wits about myself later today I will post my feelings on “The Corridor”. But for now:
10. All Tiny Creatures - Thomas Wincek of Collections of Colonies of Bees/Volcano Choir took up a new moniker as All Tiny Creatures. Standout track: Iris, featuring vocals from Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon.
9. ceo – Eric Berglund of The Tough Alliance goes solo with some fantastic electro-pop. Standout track: Come With Me
8. Four Tet – 2010′s “There Is Love In You” is easily Four Tet’s most accessible work to date but it still retains the pulse and tone that drew me into his previous albums. Standout track: Circling
7. Shearwater – I discovered this wonderful band upon the release of their 2008 album “Rook” and they returned this year with “The Golden Archipelago”. While filming “The Corridor” in February I pulled a lot of inspiration from their song, aptly titled “Corridors”. Standout track: Rooks
6. Sleigh Bells – I have a massive soft spot for noise rock and noise pop. Brooklyn’s Sleigh Bells fall into the latter and deliver some of the wildest most fun noise pop I’ve heard. Heavy distortion and mile-wide drums put this one right up my alley. Standout track: Tell ‘Em
5. The Honeydrips – I feel like Mikael Carlsson’s (Dorotea) pop outfit slipped through the cracks for a lot of people. Some may argue for good reason but I can’t help but fall for the starry-eyed 2007 album “Here Comes The Future”, regrettably the only album that will be released under the name as Carlsson has hung up his hat on the project. Standout track: Fall From A Height
4. Jonsi & Alex – Although tempted to push for Jonsi’s stellar solo album “Go”, I instead swapped it out for Jonsi & Alex’s collaboration record “Riceboy Sleeps”. I had to take a moment and examine which record has burrowed its melodies into my subconscious and “Riceboy” came out the clear winner. Both members of post-rock powerhouse Sigur Ros, Jonsi & Alex push into even more experimental and ambient territory (who even thought that was possible?) with the project. I once had a friend relay to me that “listening to this record is bound to put me in a coma,” to which I replied “it would be the best damn coma you’ll ever be in.” Standout track: Happiness
3. The Tallest Man on Earth – Despite constant knee-jerk comparisons to Bob Dylan, Sweden’s Kristian Matsson stands on his own as an impressive and raw folk act. 2010′s “The Wild Hunt” shows him in fine form and was well received and the freshly released “Sometimes the Blues is Just a Passing Bird EP” is garnering similar acclaim.
2. Local Natives – Although they’ve been around for the better part of 2010 if by any chance you’ve missed the boat on this band now is the time to get on. With an expertly crafted debut record titled “Gorilla Manor”, US harmonizers Local Natives released one of my favorite albums of the year to date.
1. Maximum Balloon – Dave Sitek, producer and guitar player for TV on the Radio, comes out guns blazing with this fun, synthy, colorful project. Maximum Balloon’s self-titled debut sports a massive guest list sprawling from Karen O to Dave Byrne. This one’s got me hooked right now. Refuse to let summer die by blasting this album. Although “Tiger” isn’t the best track the album has to offer, its zany video was too good not to post.
So, there you have it Josh. And friends. And enemies.
I’ll be back again soon. This time I’ll try not to fuck it up.
As the title of the post would suggest, I’ve been a terrible friend to you, blog. And to you, internet. But mostly to you, readers. If there are any of you left you’ve obviously watched as I’ve all but abandoned this project. I was so excited to post continually while working on “The Corridor”, and when that wrapped I found myself without interesting things to talk about. But in the past short while there are many new developments in my life that I’m excited to share with all of you. Those posts are coming soon but to curry your favor I’ve decided, as the post title would suggest, to offer some gifts. I’ve been posting them on Facebook and Twitter over the past couple weeks but I felt it necessary to compile them here so you wouldn’t have to go looking for them. I present to you, finely dressed friends, the five music videos I just can’t stop watching. And who knows, maybe one of these fine bands will garner a new fan.
5. Danielson – “Did I Step On Your Trumpet”
With matching nurse uniforms and rad treadmill action this low budget yet hyper cool vid sees christian band (!?) Danielson flex their bizarreness through the wonder of cardboard.
4. Die Antwoord – “Enter The Ninja”
Apparently there’s a movement in South African culture called “Zef”, which Die Antwoord themselves compare to the redneck culture in the United States, albeit the word directly translating to “commoner’. This insane rap crew makes you wonder if they’re for real, but a verse or two in you realize that lead MC Ninja is very, very serious.
3. HEALTH – “We Are Water”
HEALTH. Eric Wareheim. Machetes. NSFW.
2. Dam-Funk – “Things That Dreams Are Made Of”
I have to include this one on the heels of the Wareheim vid because it has such an odd, public TV feel to it so fitting with Tim & Eric: Awesome Show, Great Job! Watch as the awesome Dam-Funk cover The Human League. New York, ice cream, TV, travel. Good times.
1. Yeasayer – “O.N.E.”
I am riding the rails off this song. Yeasayer brought some serious pop influences into their new album, “Odd Blood”, and this Radical Friend directed vid pushes the band’s new image into, to quote Abraham Lincoln, “I can taste the sun!” territory. Must see.
Honorable Mentions: Hot Chip’s “I Feel Better”, Chromeo’s “Night by Night”, and Morning Bender’s “Promises”
Many people have been asking for details about “The Corridor”. You want to know what this movie’s all about. Who are these characters, really? And I sympathize. The video blogs only really chronicle what we were up to when we weren’t shooting. I get it, you can only look at us playing pool and foolish green room footage for so long. It makes sense. So what Glen and I decide to do (with the help of some of our cast mates) was to compile a list of incredibly detailed information about “The Corridor”. We present, for your perusal, a lazily named list we call:
The Top Ten Detailed but Useless Facts About “The Corridor”
There are five main actors in the film, but Cam Assist Andrew Stretch only had four colors of spike tape. Glen and Matt share the same color spike tape: neon orange.
Jim Gilbert’s room number at the hotel in Wolfville was 333. It was 323, but he changed rooms in the second week of production.
When performing a stunt that requires your back to be protected, an actor will wear a vest-like apparatus with plate protection down the back. This device is nicknamed an “Armadillo”.
The hiking boots that Stephen Chambers wears in the film actually belong to him.
When traveling the driveway to the Ross Creek Centre for the Arts (our primary filming location), cars coming from the Arts Centre to the main road have the right of way over cars traveling in the opposite direction.
One of the VHS tapes that can be found on set bears a white and red label that reads “Winter Fair 1986″. This tape is never watched nor spoken of in the film.
There is a bell and light system outside the studio. John Shurko is usually in charge of turning the light on and ringing the bell. One bell means we are currently rolling, two bells means we’ve cut.
Despite it not usually being the case, the green room that was provided for the actors on set at Ross Creek is, in fact, green.
Glen Matthews’ on-set magazine of choice is GQ.
David Patrick Flemming only brought one pair of footwear with him to Halifax: a pair of black and white Converse All Stars. They do not appear in the film.
I’ve decided to shelve video blogging this week. It’s a wild week on set with a lot of big scenes to get completed and I have to rely on my performance being it’s best. Although the vlogging is really enjoyable and I love sharing videos of what we’ve been doing with all of you, it definitely takes my mind out of the moment sometimes. So, out of respect for the project, my fellow actors, and myself the camera is off this week.
Keep checking in, though, because in the next few days I’ll be posting the Top 10 Useless Facts about “The Corridor”.
It’s almost 6 pm and I haven’t left my bedroom for longer than five minutes today. I am completely exhausted.
Today I bring you the video log for Days 9 & 10 on “The Corridor”. I do apologize in advance for us ending up back at Rafters. This was a long, arduous week but the cast and crew banded together and pulled off some really great stuff (in my humble opinion). As the post title suggests, in this video you will meet Ken. Ken is a Gaffer on set. Ken is also my nemesis. Archenemy. Sure, in the video he may seem like a nice, possibly even charming gentleman. But this is all a front for the bubbling anger below the surface. Ken will be my downfall. But I am the terror that flaps in the night. Also, Glen reveals a shameful secret.
I may as well tell you now without really revealing anything – next week is going to be incredibly busy, so I’m not sure now how much filming I’ll be able to get done. I will do my best, folks.
Indie darlings Broken Social Scene’s have a new album, called Forgiveness Rock Record, which will be released on Arts & Crafts on May 4th. In their usual “love is all” fashion Broken Social Scene are making songs from their new album available for download.
Do yourself a favor and head over to Pitchfork and enter your e-mail to grab the track. The widget does, as the article states, sign you up to the band’s mailing list but you have the option to unsubscribe. The track is fantastic, at nearly 7 minutes long and calls to mind a lot of the things that made You Forgot It In People such a great record. I tried embedding the widget here but for some reason it wouldn’t take.
As promised, here’s another video log for days 7 & 8 on “The Corridor”. In this edition you get to meet a few more members of the crew, bear witness to the extreme weather changes we’ve been experiencing on the mountain, and watch incredibly sleep deprived versions of Glen and myself stumble our ways through a long Day 7. Enjoy.
Time to ship out! Despite having a later call time I still managed to wake up tired. Go figure.
