ENTERTAINMENT

Modern Dads Feels Dated and Cliche

Modern Dads: Wednesdays at 10:30 Eastern on A&E

It’s pretty amazing how the reality genre has adopted the hacky comedy premise and made it it’s own. We’ve seen this trend grow in the last few years, with shows such as Here Comes Honey Boo Boo and Duck Dynasty. Even a show like last week’s Owner’s Manual seems to take pages from this new playbook of finding what would seem like a viable sitcom premise from 1980 and finding a way to squeeze it into an unscripted format. It is with this trend in mind that A&E, a network once known for it’s highbrow programming, unleashes its’ newest show, Modern Dads.

Modern Dads follows four stay-at-home dads as they try to balance parenting with their careers and their personal lives. The series introduces us to four leads: new father Nathan, whom tends to exhibit the protectiveness that comes with it, Rick, a more laid back father with the nickname, “the MacGyver of dads”, Sean, a step-dad raising his girlfriends kids, and Stone, a single father.

So, how does Modern Dads turn out? Well I’m not sure whether it’s a case of life truly imitating art or whether the show relies on the same tired tropes we’ve seen (mostly on ABC) over the years. Our first episode alone trots out the tried and (not particularly) true story lines of: The guys want to throw a party and Stone considers a vasectomy.

Unfortunately, Modern Dads also happens to mine all of its’ humor from those same unfunny jokes. Since the vast majority of talking heads are used for laughs (whereas normally they’re used for insight, drama, and to fill in the gaps that the producers missed), what you often see is a fairly laugh-neutral scene which is then cut away to some of the weakest punchlines on cable TV (90 percent of those, by the way, end up being Newlywed Game tame sex jokes).

Worst of all is that this laziness seems to bleed over into the production, we see the same four splashes every time a scene transitions (which wouldn’t be so bad if it didn’t feel like it was happening 15 times in a 22 minute show), with the producers not hesitating to remind you that these men are nothing more than their three word tags. Furthermore, the scenes seem fairly repetitive in nature, so it feels like they are trying to stretch four minutes of material into 22 minutes. Needless to say, it’s debatable that such a vacuous, and empty show should actually make it to the air.

The Final Verdict: If I were to describe Modern Dads in one word, it’s lazy. It’s padded to oblivion, with obviously scripted and unfunny jokes put through cliché driven non-plot lines. Skip this one: if you really want to watch a show about bumbling dads, you’re better off throwing on some reruns of Home Improvement; at the minimum the jokes will feel fresher.

In other news; please feel free to join us here at Manhattan Digest for live coverage of the MTV Video Awards this Sunday Night!

Album Review: No Age – An Object

by Rio Toro

No Age: An Object

Similar Artists: Deerhunter, Times New Viking, Wavves

Genre: Lo-Fi Rock, Punk, Noise Pop

Label: Sub Pop

Despite being a No Age fan ever since their ’07 to ’08 heyday, after listening to An Object on and off for about a day and a half, I really had no intention of formulating my thoughts into a review. Overall, I felt my opinion correlated with quite a few other reviews I had read, and besides restating those same facts and points, I didn’t think I had anything worthwhile to contribute to it. It’s an album that’s hard to love — with its shoddy production, murky atmosphere and absence of the hard boiled drumming the band is known for — but the more I thought of it, No Object was just as hard to hate, and despite Dean Spunt and Randy Randall’s attempts to “destroy” the record’s appeal with a whacked out presentation, it manages to survive as an enjoyable and catchy punk record all the same.

First, I’ll go over the not-so-great aspects of the record. “Muddy” is the first adjective that comes to mind when listening; both in terms of the quality of the instrumentation and Dean’s achingly sour vocals. Sure, lo-fi music is nothing new — and the limits of Dean’s voice were always apparent — but their last album Everything In Between saw the duo experimenting with a broader sound palette; in comparison, this has much more in common with their Weirdo Rippers compilation. It’s not just the edges that are rough though, as the whole of the compositions seems to have been built from roughness. By these regards, one would assume No Age are going back to their roots and perhaps following their friends Deerhunter down a path in which they aim to revitalize underground rock from the late 70’s to early 80’s. However, the production is a bit too curious for its own good, and doesn’t make a whole lot of sense in terms of a big picture. There are parts to these songs that just aren’t there, and there are other parts that will cause you to scratch your head as to why they are there at all (are those birds chirping on Defector Ed?).

For the most part, the up front vocals on songs like “Running From A Go-Go” and “Defector Ed” don’t work to the group’s advantage, and although Dean’s lyricism is basically unchanged in terms of subject matter and execution, the lack of a proper foundation on many of these songs cause it to stick out like a sore thumb; unfortunately not in the quasi-political way the duo had probably hoped for. This is especially the case when played on quality sound systems and headphones. The same can be said of the flat textures and detuned guitars that act as the foundations of these songs. I probably enjoyed listening to An Object the most when I played it on my ancient computer speakers, as they complemented the hissing static and drawn out fuzz.

While Randy Randall’s guitar patterns can still be interesting, due to the decayed production it’s harder to tell this than ever before. Even on more straightforward punk jams like “Lock Box”, everything seems weirdly distanced, like the music is being barricaded behind a wall. While I have immensely enjoyed this group’s ambient excursions in the past — such as the lovely “Keechie” from Nouns — here, instead of enticing us with melodic guitars they prefer to disorient us with a thick hazy wash that absorbs any kind of discernible pattern. It’s tempting to say that No Age have gone in a direction that embraces No Wave acts like Teenage Jesus & The Jerks and early Sonic Youth, but from a songwriting perspective these tracks are rather straightforward and traditional; creating an experience that is more confusing than abstract.

Still, An Object is never boring, and even though it’s the first No Age release in three years (at a mere 30 minutes no less), it’s nothing to get disappointed about. Even when I came upon a section that I felt didn’t come together all that well, It’s hard to say they did something wrong. The band are expressing themselves in creative and emotionally honest ways, and that is essentially what punk music is all about. It’s not a punk album that’s going to rock your socks off though, and besides the blazing opener “No Ground” there’s nothing close to a sing-along anthem. However, it does happen to be catchy more often than not (I can appropriately nod my head back and forth for 3/4 of the running time), and the best songs — “I Won’t Be Your Generator” and “C’mon Stimmung” — are among the most memorable No Age have churned out.

As I’ve said before, it’s not what one would call colorful, but the duo manage to change sounds just enough from track to track to keep us interested. For instance, “Running From A Go-Go” is a somewhat dreary ballad with weird electronic squiggling that ends with meshing keyboards and a warm, uplifting baseline. It’s perhaps the one moment on the album where the band’s true ambitions of creating music that is as off-kilter as it is beautiful rings true. More surprises come with “A Ceiling Dreams Of A Floor”, which is lead by a comparatively clean acoustic guitar strum, and “An Impression” which somehow manages to incorporate a string section without sounding kitschy.

If you don’t care for stylized production and have a penchant for music that sounds damaged, then maybe, just maybe, you can see past this album’s shortcomings and appreciate it as the artistic statement it is. Maybe it’s just because I’ve been so fully engaged with ultra-polished electronic releases through this year, but to me, An Object sounds uniquely refreshing. But whether you like how it sounds or not, this is some kind of a leap forward for the band, and it should be taken seriously. Whether they choose to return to this style on previous releases or abandon it in favor of something more holistic, An Object can rightfully stand on its own.

Track Listing:

1.) No Ground

2.) I Won’t Be Your Generator*

3.) C’mon Stimmung*

4.) Defector Ed

5.) An Impression

6.) Lock Box

7.) Running from a Go-Go*

8.) My Hands, Birch, And Steel

9.) Circling With Dizzy

10.) A Ceiling Dreams Of A Floor

11.) Commerce, Comment, Commence*

Album Highlight – *

Breaking Bad: The Legend Ends – Buried

by Peter Foy

*This will spoil the episode for you*

Breaking Bad has always been the show to push television serials into a hyper and precise mode, and we’re seeing that in full spades for this season. Picking up moments after the last episode ended, we find Walt leaving Hank’s garage, getting into his van, and then trying to call Skyler. Walt finds that she can’t be reached then as her line is busy, and then in true fashion for the show, Walt discovers that Hank is the one calling her. The game is on between these two, and they both seem equally matched!

The scene with Hank and Skyler was truly great. Hank is finally catching on to why she has been so distraught, and tries to comfort her, but it’s also clear that he’s seeing her as the key that he needs to get Walt. The dialogue and acting here is fantastic, with Hank attempting to suade her in a very calming fashion. Still, Skyler ultimately refuses to help Hank knowing what it could do to her, and we already see that their families are going to suffer from this. When Marie confronts Skyler she grows very angry, slaps her, and almost kidnaps her infant daughter, and only stops when Hank asks her to put the child down. It was such good reasoning of the writers to do this as we know that Marie has had kleptomaniac tendencies before in the past, and she’s quick to put blame on whomever was responsible for shooting Hank.

Walt however, is certainly trying his best to cover all his bases. Walt has Saul’s men gather his money for him, and then he buries it in a remore location all by himself. As dark a character as we’ve seen Walt become, one does have to admire how far he’s come since the beginning, and that he is now very efficient at what he sets out to do. There were even moments that suggested that Walt really still has humanity to him, such as when he scolds Saul after he suggest murdering Hank, or when he tells Skyler that he is going to make sure the children receive all the money. Who knows if he’s being honest when he says his cancer is back (the flash forwards seem to suggest otherwise), but Walt does seem to be preparing for the end, and if Jesse is going to earn redemption this season, than perhaps it’s not out of the question that Walt will too.

Plus, it looks like Walt is going to have more to worry about than just Hank. Lydia has teamed up with the neo-nazis that incited the prison riot, and leads them to take out Declan’s drug operation. While I had initially assumed that the flash forwards were suggesting that Walt was planning an attack on a police precinct (maybe to save Skyler), now I’m beginning to wonder if Walt’s final adversary will be Todd and his Uncle, as both of these characters have proven they are beyond redemption at this point. Great character writing for Lydia as well, as when she tells Todd that she doesn’t want to see the dead bodies, he merely replies, “I guess you can close your eyes.” In many ways she’s just like Walt was at the start of this series.

Which now brings us to the ending scene. Jesse has been picked up after his money-throwing spree, and has once again exposed a potential wound for Walt. At this point, I feel it’s safe to assume that next week’s episode is gonna begin with the Hank and Jesse confrontation we’ve been waiting for for some time…and it’s not gonna play out like any of us expected us to either!

4.5 chem-suits out of 5

Album Review: Julianna Barwick – Nepenthe

by Rio Toro

Julianna Barwick: Nepenthe

Similar Artists: Jonsi & Alex, Grouper

Genre: Ambient, Voice, Loop-Based

Label: Dead Oceans

Most could forgive me if I was initially a bit nervous to listen to Nepenthe, as I was afraid the expanded production credits (Alex Somers of Jonsi & Alex, string quartet Amiina, Mum Guitarist Robert Reynisson [and pretty much everything else “Icelandic” for that matter]) would potentially tarnish the deep, isolated solemnity of Julianna Barwick’s previous LP, The Magic Place. On that 2011 LP, Julianna came into her own as a talented and original sound sculpture with a voice so rich it could have only descended from the heavens. Through the use of her lyric-less vocals and (very) minor instrumentation, she created a soundscape that was both deeply personal and even epic. While “epic” might seem like a strange word for what is essentially ambient music, her towering vocals grow on top of one another until the composition becomes somewhat maximalist, yet remaining precisely contained and elegant.

After a slew of less admirable EP’s, The Magic Place was also the moment where Julianna broke free of any comparisons to new age music and Enya (not that there’s anything wrong with these things). Even modern vocal-loop based artists like Grouper — who has ventured closer to accessibility on albums like The Man Who Died In His Boat, and Dragging a Dead Deer Up A Hill — feel hard to compare to the angelic choir that Julianna Barwick has summoned through her work. Music this personal and emotional has rarely been this immediate and accessible.

While I usually award artists who change up their style from album to album, I think it’s safe to say not many people were begging for an artistic leap on Nepenthe. Thankfully, the enhanced production doesn’t do much to broaden the bounds of the music, as her style is more or less unchanged; her voice without a doubt remains the most captivating piece. As great as the electronic flourishes, piano snippets, and grand orchestrations are, this is music that aims to further the limits of the human voice, and she continues to find brilliant ways to do that throughout Nepenthe.

There are some noticeable differences between her two LP’s, but they deal more with color and tone rather than execution. The atmosphere seems to be much more attuned to frozen tundras and glacial mountaintops — “Pyrrhic” in particular seems to have borrowed a thing or two from Sigur Ros — but like the best ambient music, Nepenthe has a noticeable affect on the environment and almost immediately ushers in a tranquil mood. If one were to attempt to get into a fight, or an argument while this was playing, I don’t think the negativity would be able to sprout from their mouths. This is more true here than on previous releases, because Nepenthe is accompanied by brighter textures, and comes off being a happier experience when compared to The Magic Place‘s sense of distraught longing. It is for this reason that the title itself — which translates roughly to “a medicine for sorrow” — couldn’t be more perfect. It even ties the two albums together and leads one to believe that The Magic Place was a representation of Julianna’s sorrow, while Nepenthe is how she managed to get through it.

Although she remains non lyrical for the most part, “One Part” happens to be her first piece that contains clearly audible words instead of her usual monosyllabic singing. She repeats the words /I guess I was, asleep that night, was waiting far/ over and over to an overwhelming affect; you can’t help but picture her singing the refrain while standing at her window in a night gown staring into the twilight-lit night sky.

I’ve listened to a lot of Julianna Barwick over the last few years, and now, because of Nepenthe, I’m sure she will continue to dominate my playlists for the next several as well. In a way, Julianna has it easy, and while i’m sure this music couldn’t have been arranged by an amateur, she has been blessed with an immaculate voice, and as long as she is paired with a looping station it is the only instrument she will ever need. It’s immediate music, and although it doesn’t necessarily get more beautiful with repeated listens, it should be known that it never happens to become less beautiful either; I think there’s a word for that actually, oh yeah: timeless.

Track Listing:

1.) Offing

2.) The Harbinger*

3.) One Half*

4.) Look Into Your Own Mind

5.) Pyrrhic

6.) Labyrinthine*

7.) Forever*

8.) Adventurer of the Family

9.) Crystal Lake*

10.) Waving To You

Album Highlight – *

Why Darren Young Coming Out Is A Bigger Deal Than You’d Think

by Michael Tyminski

Readers of Manhattan Digest, I have a confession to make.

I’m a wrestling fan.

As late as Wednesday night, all of my wrestling related focus was devoted to the awesome potential that this Sunday’s Summerslam card would have, with an intriguing double main event (Indy poster child Daniel Bryan vs. mainstream champ John Cena and a similar mirror in CM Punk vs. Brock Lesnar) and an enjoyable undercard. However, some news broke Thursday morning that seems to have taken off: that Darren Young (real name: Fred Rosser) had announced to world via TMZ that he was gay.

Now normally I would be of the sort of person that would brush this sort of news off; after all, I watch wrestling to enjoy glorified stage fights, so needless to say I judge my favorite wrestlers by how they entertain me, not whatever is going on in their personal lives. To do so in this case, however, would be an affront and to completely ignore how traditionally backwards and unenlightened the sports entertainment industry in sensitive matters like these. This is an industry that has had no problem milking effeminate male gimmicks in caricatures for massive heat (see: Exotic Adrian Street, and more recently the very earliest incarnation of Goldust). This trend has continued into today (I don’t know what TNA was aiming for with their booking of the bisexual Orlando Jordan, but whatever it was it made me cringe), as even the smallest of federations have figured out that sending out two guys and dress them like the Backstreet Boys is the easiest way to get the fans to hate them.

Worse yet, this trend has followed into some locker rooms, as one former champion of a major promotion has as recently as May posted a very strongly anti marriage equality tweet that caused a stir within the wrestling community (for being backward, nonetheless). This locker room frat boy attitude is a key part as to why it also took until 2013 for an active athlete in a major league to come out as well.

When you consider the potential hostility of the environment that Rosser had made his announcement in, the announcement suddenly becomes a bigger deal. While attitudes nationally are changing, this announcement is the first step in determining exactly how far professional wrestling has come to combat it’s less enlightened past and how far attitudes have changed in a few short years (the aforementioned Orlando Jordan gimmick was in the way back year of 2010).

Luckily response from WWE brass (and even Cena) has been positive, but it still falls on them to follow up. Furthermore, anyone whom has watched their programming in the last couple of years knows about the company’s strong push of it’s anti-bullying initiative: B.A. Star. However, If Rosser’s sexuality is turned into gimmick fodder for the writing staff, then it will ultimately mean that attitudes towards homosexuality in pro wrestling haven’t changed all that much. Further complicating matters is that Rosser is currently part of the heel tag team “The Prime Time Players”, so it should be an interesting time to see where the fan base falls, as the wrong boos and the wrong catcalls could easily ensure that the wrestling fan base maintains its’ backwards reputation for another generation.

Owner’s Manual is Off Model

by Michael Tyminski

Owner’s Manual: Thursdays at 10 p.m. Eastern on AMC

One of the more subtle underpinnings of TV’s unscripted genre has been the notion of life imitating art. This can come from many possible angles, including: blatant real life knockoffs of hit shows (Real Housewives in all of it’s forms), testing the plausibility of what happens in other media (Mythbusters just did a special devoted to Breaking Bad’s most plausibility-shattering moments), and the increasingly common tactic of finding a cliché or stereotype and running with it (Duck Dynasty feels like “blue collar reality”). It is from that third well that AMC debuts it’s newest show, Owner’s Manual.

Owner’s Manual operates on the age old observational comedy yarn about men being seemingly incapable of asking for directions on anything whether from a book or another person. The show puts this theory to the test by having it’s hosts Ed Sanders and Marcus Hunt try to operate some of the world’s most intricate machinery, with Marcus insisting on being “by-the-book” while Ed is more “on-the-fly”. Each week brings not only the challenge of book vs. instinct, but also forces the two to collaborate in order to complete the week’s challenge.

Our first episode involves our stars trying to learn how to operate a plane in a dogfight not too dissimilar from the Top Gun. In order to make it there, however, Ed and Marcus must perform some basic maneuvers and prove that they can handle gravitation. Marcus aces the first test as Ed passes out almost immediately when the plane goes into a tailspin. However, it’s Ed who seems more adept at feeling his way through loops and spins. The two do ultimately get to dogfight, but it’s Marcus who gets the upper hand solely for knowing the phrase “permission to engage”.

So how does Owner’s Manual play out? Well not as well as you think. While the show is built on book learning vs. gut feeling, but at the end of the day, most of the major learning comes from asking questions, making the distance between Marcus and Ed’s approaches not nearly as far as you’d think. This is made even less distinct when one considers that the second challenge often ends up requiring some sort of teamwork. The end result is a show that ends up showing the primacy of a hybrid approach to tackling any sort of project.

The show’s remedy for this is to have a never ending string of trash talk. Basically, unless something goes horribly wrong mid-challenge, the two only communicate through smack talk, which while entertaining, also ensures that we will never glean any deeper into this rivalry, making this the sort of show that makes you feel like once you’ve seen one episode, you’ve seen them all.

The Final Verdict: Owner’s Manual feels pretty middling. It’s inoffensive, but at the same time often blows it’s own internal logic to smithereens. It sets itself as a hardened rivalry, but ultimately leans on teamwork, co-ordination, and the expertise of others (which doesn’t particularly count for either of it’s supposed methodologies) in order to have successful teamwork. Furthermore, the show seems like the sort of enterprise in which a well constructed SNL sketch would probably capture the show well enough that you would never have to watch it to see what comes next. Skip this one, it’s pretty mediocre in what typically tends to be one of the hottest contested time slots on the dial.

Album Review: Julia Holter – Loud City Song

by Rio Toro

Julia Holter: Loud City Song

Similar Artists: Jenny Hval, Kate Bush, Nico, Julianna Barwick

Genre: Orchestral-Pop, Dream-Pop, Ambient

Label: Domino

I originally thought Loud City Song — the 3rd LP and 1st studio album from Los Angeles’ Julia Holter — was a strange title for music bearing such a quiet serenity. After all, Julia Holter’s music has always been resemblant of everything but towering skyscrapers and industrialization — although it certainly can be brash and avant-garde now and then. However, while Loud City Song impacted me from my initial listen, I don’t think I truly understood it as a piece until I experienced it while walking through the lower east side of Manhattan. It just so happened to be the most perfect, sunshiny day of the year, and since I was accompanied by a slight breeze, I was thankfully able to stroll along the streets for hours on end without so much as a direction in mind.

While I often feel cities aren’t the best places to listen to music — with their disruptive subway systems and endless array of honking motor vehicles — with Loud City Song I seemed to be transported to a more ancient decade of Manhattan, and my mind soon became focused on the more transparent beauty of the city (or at least what is seemingly transparent for those of us who live here…). from the bright green shrubbery hanging from windowpanes, to the inviting cobblestone walkways, to the variety of tiny boutiques and coffee shops; even the people — who I am often too buried in my own thoughts to notice — seemed to stand out with their unique fashions and accessories.

As it happens, Loud City Song is somewhat based off of the 1950’s MGM musical Gigi — the most apparent allusion(s) being “Maxim’s I” and “Maxim’s II” which reference the main character’s often used cafe — but the story arch and lyricism of the album are so vivid and even surreal, that you really don’t have to know a thing about musicals to understand its meaning. Similarly, despite many themes being rooted in the past, Loud City Song has a message that feels very relevant in modern day society; one being our culture’s fascination with celebrities. Although Julia Holter’s previous two LP’s, Tragedy and Ekstasis, were somewhat based off of ancient Greek texts, Loud City Song ends up being an even more ambitious accomplishment.

So now Julia Holter is working in a full studio setting, and the first thing you’ll notice about Loud City Song is how gorgeous the instrumentation is; from the strings, to the horns, to Julia’s majestic voice itself, everything glows with a pristine quality. The pieces often radiate a bright yellowish hue; especially album centerpiece “Hello Stranger”, which may or may not be a projection of heaven itself. While her previous work was excellently composed as well, the instruments themselves sounded far below studio quality, and I occasionally felt like I was listening to a recording of a high school band. That production fault managed to pull me out of her otherworldly and dreamlike compositions from time to time, and kept her music from being truly perfect. However, now Julia Holter is in the place she was meant to be all along, and there is nothing preventing her from being seen as the superb composer/multi instrumentalist that she is.

As far as the music goes, these pieces act as a combination of the more abstract, avant-garde compositions of Tragedy, with the more direct, song oriented compositions of Ekstasis. Some people felt that the more traditional songwriting on Ekstasis was a step backward for Holter, but no one is going to be saying that here; everything sounds like a clear progression from her previous material. For instance, “In The Green World” happens to be one of the more song-oriented pieces on Loud City Song, but even when she works with standard chord progressions, the album’s otherworldly presence remains in full view. While, “Maxim’s II” ends with a riotous dueling horn passage, the noise feels necessary within the context of the song; nothing about this music sounds random or meaningless, as each note is playing its part towards a grander picture. She has also added a more prominent use of field recordings — such as those from city streets — on “Horn’s Surrounding Me” as well as some double bass on “In the Green Wild”.

Holter ends up sounding experimental and eye-opening without being loud or obnoxious; quite like Kate Bush, another artist who is able to take her music in exploratory directions while maintaining rapt accessibility. While beautiful is a word that is used far too frequently in music, in the case of Julia Holter it is truly fitting; the finest bits of Loud City Song are even overwhelming in their gorgeousness. This feeling of a bustling, happy-go-lucky downtown city environment doesn’t dissipate through multiple listens either. I’m in love with this album, and it might just be opening my eyes to the beautiful world around me.

Track Listing:

1.) World

2.) Maxim’s I*

3.) Horns Surrounding Me*

4.) In the Green Wild*

5.) Hello Stranger*

6.) Maxim’s II*

7.) He’s Running Through My Eyes

8.) This Is A True Heart

9.) City Appearing*

Album Highlight – *

The Spectacular Now: Summer’s Surprise Masterpiece?

by Peter Foy

Now-a-days, it really does takes a lot for me to get chocked up while watching a film. This didn’t always used to be the case, as I remember being on the verge of tears as I watched Darth Vadar cut off his son’s hand in The Empire Strikes Back, or watching two childhood friends hold a battle to the death in Akira, or even seeing Michael Jordan being taunted by alien scum in the vastly underrated animated masterpiece that is Space Jam. In recent years, however, I’m lucky to catch a new movie that I could even term as “sad” in a manner that’s a compliment. It’s a real shame too, as as I grow older I sometimes wonder whether it’s because I’ve just been exposed to so much more now, or if it’s because I myself am becoming more emotionally cold and didactic. Then, however, something will come along that will come across to me as so human, and so heartfelt, that I will have that pleasing sense return to me, both in a nostalgic fashion and in a way that’s completely fresh to my being. More frequently these are actually real events that happen in my life, but in this most recent case it happened to be from watching a movie. That movie was The Spectacular Now!

Adapted from the eponymous novel by Tim Tharp,the film is a teen-romance set in the present day. The film’s protagonist is Sutter Keeley (Miles Terry), a high school senior who thinks he has it all. He’s popular, has an active sex life with his girlfriend, and equipped with a car and a steady job (something not all teenagers have in today’s economy). Still, Sutter also has insecurities to him, that aren’t completely hidden. He’s a budding alcoholic who constantly needs to be sauced, and he’s also deeply upset that he never got to know his father who left their family while he was still at a young age. After breaking up with his girlfriend, he rebounds by having a long night of drunk driving, eventually waking up after passing out in front of the hous of a classmate, Aimee Finecky (Shailene Woodley). She’s different than the females he usually mingles with as she’s not the wild type, but the two almost immediately seem to bond. Not long after this chance meeting they begin to date.

This is a movie that comes off as realer-than-real in terms of confronting the high school experience. Writers Scott Neustadler and Michael H. Weber (who also penned (500) Days of Summer), really know the lingo of the today’s high-schoolers (albeit slightly exaggerated so that it’s not too esoteric), and ardently avoid coming-of-age story cliches. What’s more, they’ve also found the perfect director for the film in James Ponsoldt. Those that saw last year’s Smashed can verify that he is a solid visual stylist, as well as a film maker that can conduct a satisfying comedy-drama ratio, but his script for the film was very modest and played it a bit too safe at parts. For The Spectacular Now, however, he’s working with a superb script, and one that really tests his girth. The film has a rather dreamy feel to it thanks to effective music and filmmaking cues, and he also knows exactly when to hold back. There are several times in the film where the screen cuts to black, and it serves to have audience members either catch their breath, or evaluate what just happened.

Also, the subject matter in the film is very reminiscent to what Ponsoldt explored in Smashed, only this time the substance abuser is even younger. While the film is about young love, it’s also just as much a film about alcoholism, which is handled in a very delicate manner. Flasks, beer bottles, and pitchers frequently surround Sutter, and while there’s only one scene in the film when a character comments about his drunken state, the raw emotional scenes in the film are enough to tell us viewers that Sutter’s drinking is well past the mentality of simply being a social activity. When the film delivers us a brief yet harrowing image during it’s final act, it could have come off as a cheap shock tactic in a lesser film, but here it feels mandatory towards the film’s communicating on it’s rough message.

Of course, this is a romantic film, so no matter how great the writing and directing is, the film needs chemistry between it’s two leads above all else. Fortunately, Teller and Woodley are simply resounding, with the two leads not only seeming to really be in love (wait till you see the sex scene!), but they fully understand the unique traits of their characters. Teller’s performance fluidly merges with the fact that Sutter is a character who plays it cool, yet has deep emotional problems in his life. It’s a performance that actually recalls Richard Dreyfuss’ role in the underappreaciated 70s film The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. Woodley is an actress I’ve been intrigued with for a bit, as while I happened to think that The Descendents was quite possibly the most overrated film of 2011, I was really impressed with her performance. In the Spectacular Now, however, she continues to proves she a vibrant talent in Hollywood’s under-25-crowd, and really went the extra yard to make Aimee connect. She gained a little bit of weight for this role to make the character look more normal, and she also settles on a sense of charm and care for this character that just seems right. Also while we’re talking about cast, I have to mention (even if it’s just of interest to fans of great television), that it was just so great that they managed to cast Bob Odenkirk (Breaking Bad, Mr Show) and Andre Royo (The Wire) in bit parts.

The most remarkable thing about this film is that the complete impact of what I just saw only became apparent the moment the credits began. I was enjoying the film the whole way through, yet I couldn’t shake away from my mind that The Spectacular Now was a bit too generic in some regards. For some reason though, the scene’s ending just had all it’s parts come together in such a sublime fashion, that it made me realize that I had just watched something really special. In my mind, the movie went from a B to an A in just a millisecond. Simply put that this film is the teen-romance that critics have been waiting to see for a very long time, and hopefully this will be the sleeper hit of the summer.

Album Review: Blondes – Swisher

by Rio Toro

Blondes: Swisher

Similar Artists: Andy Stott, Basic Channel, Surgeon, Anthony Child

Genre: Techno

Label: RVNG Intl.

It might seem at first that NYC’s Blondes are just your standard, moderately talented electronic duo with an absurdly google-proofed name — it also doesn’t help that they bear the unfortunate and misleading tag of being “Hipster House” — however, they happened to prove that they were much more than a product of the blogospheric hype machine with their excellent singles compilation last year, the self-titled Blondes. That debut LP stood out for a lot of reasons, but first and foremost, it showed that Sam Haar and Zack Steinman were two youngsters who were immensely enticed by the powers of dance music; their destiny and purpose was only to find new ways to make us move. Since neither of the members had a background in producing, they created their music largely through experimentation, and in doing so, they happened to bypass many of the common dance-floor cliches. They concocted a refreshing take on the genre, but perhaps the best part about Blondes was that it remained innately techno, and therefore appealed to the hardcore IDM crowd as well as EDM newcomers. Blondes make no-bullshit, dance till you drop, instrumental bangers; there are no ambient interludes, no extravagant genre hopping, and despite what you may have been lead to believe, no pretension.

On their 2nd album, Swisher, released by surprise a few weeks back, Blondes have matured in more ways than one. These aren’t the singles of the first album, and because this is more of a singular piece — recorded during a finite time period — some immediacy has been lost (it must be said). However, now their kosmiche influence feels more cemented, which gives many of these tracks an astronomical edge. Additionally, the music here is more difficult and less formulaic, which really helps it come into its own after a few listens. Take opener “Aeon” for example, which is far more restrained than anything off of their debut — we keep expecting the disjointed bassline to break into a tribal thrust as it did on “Lover”, but that moment never comes — instead, the glistening, ethereal synthesizers come into full view and drift along as though they are part of a living breathing organism. It doesn’t take long to realize that Blondes have become a more dense and texturally minded group than they were before. Thankfully aside from the cleansing opener, they continue to remain firmly rooted in dance music.

Second track, “Bora Bora” is where the action really kicks off; with it’s clanking steel drums, dubby bassline, and cold atmospherics, it recalls the best of Basic Channel and the Chain Reaction label without falling into copycat territory. Blondes know how to play homage to beloved genres by embarking on them from varying viewpoints and adding their own interesting twists. Like “Bora Bora”, much of the album can be considered techno of the “minimal” variety, as the transitions throughout a track are precise and often nearly imperceptible; quite the achievement seeing how many tracks run upwards of 10 minutes without once becoming the source of fatigue.

Although they have always worked with a rather broad array of sounds, their palette has expanded in some interesting new directions. “Clasp” is accompanied by comforting organ drones and “Poland” sounds like an updated version of something off of Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works. The tracks contain a humanistic touch that is transcendental and meditative yet tribal and raw; I still can’t manage to decide whether Swisher is an album more suited towards a summer or winter themed environment. While we are taken on darker territory on “Wire” — a track that recalls the eerie soundscape of Andy Stott — the next song, “Elise”, happens to be just about the most ecstatic thing the duo have recorded, and the two tracks happen to work perfectly together in unison.

As I see it now, Swisher is one of the best techno releases of the year — scratch that — it’s one of the best techno releases in recent memory. While their debut may have been more accessible and party oriented, this comes off as more intelligent and more consistently interesting. It’s varied in terms of sound, yet unified in terms of approach, and it proves their early singles weren’t the fluke many thought they were. In fact, Swisher is so naturally flowing and immersive, that if anything, it sounds like making it was no sweat for the duo. If that’s true, we are sure to hear plenty more in the way of excellency from this group down the road; let’s all hope these artists turn out to be prolific ones.

Track Listing:

1.) Aeon

2.) Bora Bora*

3.) Andrew*

4.) Poland*

5.) Clasp

6.) Swisher

7.) Rei*

8.) Wire

9.) Elise*

Album Highlight – *

Breaking Bad: The Legend Ends – Blood Money

by Peter Foy

*Warning: Spoilers a plenty*

So Hank just got an inkling that Walt is Heisenberg, and he already tried to bust his fucking skull.

That’s what I love about Breaking Bad so much. It always manages to subvert our expectations, while also playing it logically and staying within the show’s very distinct nature. Gilligan has said before that “once you tip your deck you have to show it.” This serves as the reasoning as to why some revelations on the show have come fairly quickly where other shows would drag them on for perhaps seasons. For example, by season 3 the writers decided Skyler should become aware of Walt’s secret life, which has certainly worked wonders for the show’s direction (even if her character hasn’t exactly become a fan-favorite). Now here we are where we have a face-to-face confrontation between Hank and Walt only one episode after Hank’s shocking reveal, but if you think about it, it’s been a long time coming. Walt’s crimes have been under Hank’s nose the whole time, not to mention it’s been a whole year since we the audience have seen the last episode’s shocking cliff-hanger. In a way, Vince Gilligan was very kind to us patient viewers by letting us catch a glimpse at the long gestating Walt Vs. Hank arc.

Aside from that pivotal scene, however, Bloodmoney acted as a great re-entry point for Breaking Bad’s final season, and once again it began with a flash-forward. Last year’s season premiere started off with a flash-forward in which we see that Walt had changed his identity and purchased some rather heavy artillery for unknown reasons, but now we’ve seen a bit more of what’s to come. This premiere does indeed begin with another flash-forward scene, with Walt returning to his old house which has now been vacated, and left in shambles. We see a group of teenagers skateboarding on his drained pool, and even more damning is a graffiti mark in his former living room that reads Heisenberg. We now know that Walt is going to be revealed to the public as a drug dealer, and perhaps even become a living urban legend. Of course, the real kicker is when we find the reason Walt has returned to his abandoned home. In pure Breaking Bad form, we discover that Walt is here to reclaim the vial of ricin that he hid here back at the beginning of the season. Whatever the reasoning for Walt’s doing this, we know that everything is coming full circle, and that there will be no loose threads hanging.

Returning to the present, however, we find that Walt seems to be doing fairly well with his ordinary life. He’s opened the car wash that he and Skyler have been talking about, and we see that he’s become a family man again (albeit it’s very possibly just a guise for him at this point). Still, Walt’s past is never far behind. Lydia, the cowardly woman who helped Walt commit a brutal prison slaughter-fest last season, has come back and is demanding Walt’s help again. It’s clear to me that this woman is intended to be the proverbial monkey wrench for Walt’s plans, and there’s no question that she’s going to be the sole reason that everything fucks up.

Then, of course, there is Jesse Pinkman. We first see the character hanging out with a few of his stoned-out buddies, who supply a bit of levity for us. His friends are talking about an absurd script idea for an episode of Star Trek, but Jesse’s mannerisms let us know that he isn’t in the mood for such bafoonery right now. He goes to Saul and ask that the millions of dollars that Walt left him be sent to the parents of a boy they killed, as well as the granddaughter of Mike Ehrmantraut. Of course, when Walt hears about this he immediately goes to Jesse and asks him to put such a thought behind him, knowing that this money links them to their crimes. Walt once again shows how casually dishonest he’s become, as he tells Jesse that Mike is still fine even though he is his murderer. Jesse however, finally seems to be catching onto Walt’s lies, as he tells Walt that he feels Mike must be dead, and he thinks that he knows it.

More so than any other character on the show, Jesse has really gone through the most pain and soulful torment. He’s in direct contrast to Walt who has grown power-hungry and merciless, Jesse feels like shit about all the death and destruction their drug dealing ventures have caused. He has become the show’s most sympathetic character. Jesse does something really unexpected later on in the episode, as he drives around town throwing stacks of money out onto the street. It kind of acts as a parallel to Walt’s attempt at morality back in season 3 when he contemplated burning his money after the plane crash he caused. The difference here though, is that Jesse was actually able to give his money away, and perhaps it suggests that the character might achieve redemption before the final credits roll.

Getting back to the Walt and Hank scene though, it really was the perfect way to tie up this extremely successful premiere episode. It shows that both of these characters (whom we know so well at this point) are both onto each other. Walt’s not so thinly veiled threat to Hank (“If you don’t know who I am, then maybe your best course would be to tread lightly”), is the ideal set up for the chess game these two characters are about to play with each other. Walt certainly feels almighty after killing several drug game big-shots, and then being able to “leave” the game physically unscathed. Of course, through the episode’s haunting flash forward, we know that Walt is about to be outed in at least several ways. Next week’s episode can’t come soon enough!

Episode Rating: 4.5 Bags of Blue Crystal out of 5

ENTERTAINMENT

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