MUSIC REVIEW . Cibo Matto . Stereo Type A

Ah, fizzy J-pop with its perky jumpbeats and relentless optimism. Broadcasting from a technological mecca, laced with so much expected escapism from a turbulent, demanding society, pop music from Japan embodies either pungent cutesyness or the exact opposite– raunchy overuse of misused curse words –but only one thing can be certain: behind every foreign [...]

Supreme Beings of Leisure — Divine Operating System music review

Erotic electronica. Voluptuous vocals. Simple-set rhymes with often Yoda-esque messages of empowerment and rich avid description. Brave beats and originality. Oh, Supreme Beings of Leisure, you had it once but came up short this round.
Obviously honoring the classic greats of jazz and soul with an added twist of crisp post-modernistic precision, [...]

Múm — Finally We Are No One music review

Every so often, Tinkerbell® smokes out and pays me a visit via accidental melodies. Zippers clinking in the dryer, garbage trucks’ reverse warnings, tunnel vent floe flows. There was a phase in my life where all I wanted to listen to was my laundry machine, Sunday morning birds, the beach, and maybe Autechre. [...]

Zero 7 — Simple Things music review

Now Zero 7 is neither a household name nor a new duck. Hide-and-seeking in UK obscurity, they never truly made it to the States yet. Hmm, our loss. They have been featured on a few soundtracks (Blue Crush, Garden State, TV’s Roswell and CSI and UK commercials), so perhaps they’ll be recognized [...]

Eisley — Room Noises music review

The Corrs, BeeGees, now the DuPrees, better known as Eisley. What do these groups have in common? Sibling power! Imagine sharing your most intimate aspirations and errs with your kin and with your ever-supportive ever-videotaping father chronicling the entire process. Well, it doesn’t seem to bother the DuPree kids, who have [...]

MUSIC REVIEW . Sonny Rollins . Newk’s Time

I guess I was an unconventional jazz enthusiast because I inadvertently imbued it with certain rules, even though I felt jazz should remain carefree. I believed it was sacrilege to own any recording of it. Jazz should be listened to live or at least serendipitously, I protested. I guess it felt like [...]

MUSIC REVIEW . The Wolfgang Press . Everything is Beautiful

Michael Allen, singer Wolfgang Press: “Right place right time, from Soul Boy to Punk in one seamless movement… The arrogance of youth is a wonderful thing and belief is everything. To say the answer to all of my inner turmoil and sense of isolation was found down a dingy cellar on Oxford Street in [...]

MUSIC REVIEW . Lamb . Best Kept Secrets

I am not an advocate for greatest hits albums. When I was in grade school, I figured that sort of thing was for fogies who weren’t true fans. But if being a true fan means you have to suffer through the flops then that’s just wasteful time- and money-wise. So when CD [...]

MUSIC REVIEW . Typical Cats . Civil Service

Okay, I’m no expert on hip-hop, nor will I now pretend to be one. I will not bore you with detailed declaration of the artists’ genius or omnipotent heights à la sold-and-bought critics. All I’m going to say is that Typical Cats are my dig. Well, maybe I’ll say a little more: [...]

MUSIC REVIEW . Ima Robot . Self Titled

I didn’t want to like Ima Robot, but just couldn’t help it. I blame it in parts: 1/2 due to its pristine new wave heavy pop-punk revamp with 1/4 devoted to Jello Biafra soundalike (and ex-rapper) Alex Ebert, 1/4 ‘cos it makes vacuuming fun. Worried it would be a one-hit wonder album, [...]

MUSIC REVIEW . Frou Frou . Details

Okay, I’m a little behind on this boat, but now I’m addicted. A bunch of years back (2002? 2003?) a friend (in the way friends want to force– I mean share– music) said “hey, you’d really like Frou Frou“. I immediately quipped about Frou-Frou Foxes in Midsummer Fires by the second love of [...]

MUSIC REVIEW . Fiona Apple . Extraordinary Machine

Be kind to me or treat me mean/ I’ll make the most of it/ I’m an extraordinary machine

In the created-appropriate din of the livingroom with only one lamp on is where I listened to the latest Fiona Apple album, but her voice sounds good in any instance, every possible port. Some music can only [...]

Liz Phair — Somebody’s Miracle // music review

Liz Phair was one of the artists I started listening to back in Junior High school. Not so much because her music was good, but rather because she was hot. In listening to her CD’s though I found her catchy alt rock sensibilities and sassy-nasty lyrics to be quite a nice compliment to my daily [...]

CD Warehouse is Closing

I just got home from work this evening to find a message waiting on our home phone (we don’t own a cellphone). It was my buddy Greg and he had some sad news to report. Compact Disc Warehouse, the store many people in the area know and love, is going out of business.
Due to this [...]

FREE JAZZ in Palo Alto!!

I’ve always been smitten with the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto. And I don’t even drive a 7 series bimmer. It is an outdoor mall, meaning that it is not only a welcome switch from the ubiquitous strip and box malls, but that it is dotted with gorgeous overflowing oversized container gardens [...]

Loaner Cars and Channel 104.9

So after Kris and I got back from our recent trip to Seattle I happened to render my car undriveable, exploding both right tires and denting my front rim. As such I have been driving around my sister’s old car, a red 1988 Acura with a dented hood, two broken headlights, torn seat cushions, rust [...]

Samurai Fiction movie review

THIS MOVIE SLAUGHTERS KILL BILL and KUROSAWA! Just give reputed rebel Hiroyuki Nakano 45 days and he’ll return with a completely unique, extensively tricked-out treasure that indulges its audience in everything that works well in cinema today, as well as many decades past. Innovative, incredible and awe-inspiring, this film combines seemingly spontaneous shots with amazingly [...]

Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space movie review

SPACE KITTY BLASTS THROUGH SOME THICK NOGGINS “Possibly Maybe” –one of my favourite Bjork tunes and the best way to describe the experience of this incredible flick. Subtly referencing (possibly) everything from The Little Prince, Phillip K. Dick and Roman mythology, Masons and mind control, to Itchy and Scratchy, Happy Tree Friends, 50s TV Japanimation [...]