Movie of The Month: Seven Psychopaths

Seven Psychopaths.

Wowsers was this movie great.

Now.  If you are a fan of films that capture a particular brand of morbid beauty as I am, then this flick is right up your alley.  I personally love movies of this type a la David Fincher's Seven or Fight Club.  So if'n you enjoy the previously mentioned films, most likely you will feel the same of this one.

First, I want to start with the cast.  Christopher Walken.  Love (duh).  Woody Harrelson.  Also love.  Sam Rockwell.  Love again.  Colin Farrell.  I think I loved him in certain films; In Bruges, he was hilarious in Horrible Bosses, and I certainly did not love him in the recent Total Recall which just plain stunk.  The film was lacking a strong female presence and it seems purposefully so as the dialogue addresses the offensively misogynistic tone in appropriate deprecating fashion.  Anywho, the combo of these four dudes alone is a recipe for greatness.  But then.  Enter Tom Waits. All of a sudden this movie became an instant favorite of mine.  And the story that Tom Waits' character subsequently imparts sounds like it came directly from his record Mule Variations.  The addition of Tom Waits to the movie instantly provided the perfect tinge of intellectual quirkiness. 

This film supplied so much that satisfied my tastes.  It was darkly funny, bizarre, uber-meta, foul mouthed, depreciative of the Hollywood film making paradigm, and gratuitously violent at times.  Stir that together and you get a big pot of awesome.  And then on top of that was the soundtrack.  Throughout the movie my ears were graced by the songs of Hank Williams, Townes Van Zandt, Deer Tick, and The Walkmen.  Perfection.

Overall, writer/director Martin McDonagh really hit the nail on the head with this flick.  My hat is off to you sir and I look forward to another film of yours.

In the meantime I would like to direct your attention to some fabulous young film makers.  My cousin Lee and lovely girlfriend Jenna have a production company in New Orleans called Calm Dog Productions and they have been doing some fabulous work. 

Check it out here: calmdogproductions.com as well as the Facebook page.

Til next time,

Ty

Album of The Month: You Won't - Skeptic Goodbye

Hello!

It is once again time for my Album of The Month.  For the lovely month of March I am choosing the debut full length album by the indy-rock duo You Won't: Skeptic Goodbye.

I had the pleasure of seeing them perform during the SXSW festival a couple of weeks ago.  I must thank our dear friend Jeremy of super-awesome-talented-amazing group Pearl and The Beard for suggesting we attend this fabulous show.  So THANKS!  I obviously enjoyed the show immensely and have been listening to You Won't's? (#apostrophe confusion) album constantly and savoring every second of it.

Now.  First of all, I love their name.  It reminds me of Ron Howard's narration in the hilarious television program Arrested Development (new episodes in May on Netflix!!!) in which Mr. Howard voices over commentary pertaining to the dishonesty of particular characters; e.g. "He didn't" or "She wouldn't".  Also, I enjoy the potential sarcastic interpretation as to whether the listener will enjoy the duo's musical compositions...

Anywho, this indy-rock outfit has successfully put together a collection of songs which are among the best I have ever listened to.  It is intelligent, fuzzed out, beautifully melodic, and texturally stimulating in ways that feel both familiar and foreign at the same time.  Almost as if the songs were snatched out of the ether and delivered to my ears in accordance to the grand design of the universe.  At least that is how I feel about it.  And that is the magic of music.  Sometimes you stumble upon something that you feel was meant for you, and this album feels like it was meant for me.  In other words, it is fresh as fuck.

I hope you dear readers will heed my advice and subsequently enjoy this fantastic record.  If you do listen to it and in turn find yourself hating the record and myself, well then.... fuck off (jk, lol, elbow to the ribs).  But seriously, I think this is a great record and if you don't like it, no big deal.

Happy listening and love to all!!

Ty

SXSW 2013

Once again we have survived another SXSW festival in Austin, TX.  Thank you to all the fans that came to watch and support us during our sets!  We love you all and without you we do not exist!

As always, it was hectic, confusing, overwhelming, and awesome.  The insanity that is the SXSW festival is a particular experience that every music lover should have at least once.  Inevitably the staggering quantity of live music and general stimuli will provide unexpected experiences to be cherished.  And this year’s memories will certainly remain as favorites.  We may have missed the much talked about Prince set and Justin Timberlake’s secret show, but forget that stuff.  For me, SXSW is a chance to witness something new that you never expected.

Amongst my favorite shows that I enjoyed included our Los Angeles friends The Mowgli's epic performance at Maggie Mae’s, a terrific concert by the wonderful Texas blues legend Marcia Ball, and a fantastic set by the indie rock duo You Won’t at The Parish.  We also attended the MTVU Woodie Awards performance which included Taylor's favorite twenty one pilots, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, and Zedd.  This was my first experience of a legit "EDM" artist: Zedd.  I am admittedly averse to said genre, but it was slightly impressive.  Though somewhere between ten to fifteen minutes of this stuff and I am through.  It looked pretty neat though:

And though I did not see the heralded Flaming Lips and Jim James sets at Auditorium Shores, I hear from Mike and Taylor that is was nothing short of incredible.  And my reason for missing that show is among the few that I would count as acceptable.  And that, of course, would be to attend a lovely wedding in New Orleans.  Congratulations to my cousin Nell and her husband Greg!  I love you guys!  One of the few events that could drag me away from SXSW includes a beautiful family celebration and a raucous second line through the French Quarter. 

Upon my reluctant return to Austin (few places top Austin in awesomeness and one is most certainly New Orleans) we promptly attended the Eric Clapton concert.  Amazing would be an understatement for this show, and always is for the magical Slowhand.  For me it was a real treat to see drummer Steve Jordan for the first time performing with the living guitar legend.  No one grooves harder than that man.

And lastly, we had to stuff our faces with delicious slow cooked meats from Salt Lick.  No trip to Austin is complete without this activity and we achieved our appropriate fill.

Mmmmm...meat

Suffice to say, the past week has been inspiring and exhausting.  Time to get back to California and start creating some fresh music.

Love to all!

Ty

Album of The Month

Sorry, did not quite get this done in time for February, but let's just consider it the "Album of Last Month".

So.

Local Natives' Hummingbird.

I have been waiting several years for this L.A.-based group to release a sophomore effort.  Thankfully, at the close of the January month of 2013, the second offering, Hummingbird, was released.  Local Natives' first record, Gorilla Manor (released 2009), is a beautiful concoction that blends folksy song writing with mellow soundscapes and tribal rhythms.  And the latest effort Hummingbird continues in this aural vain though with more nuanced and perfected sonic quality.  The dreamy synths, trance inducing drums, lush vocal harmonies, and sensitively personal lyric content are all intact on this wonderful long player providing a unique and versatile emotive palette.


A quick glimpse at this band reveals the qualities typically intrinsic to your average, crappy hipster band commonly found in Philadelphia or Baltimore; i.e. a 2:1 guitar to keyboard ratio, auxiliary percussion assembled with the keyboard player, two distinct lead vocalists obscuring the concept of a frontman, tall bass player, band members switching instruments for a minuscule portion of the live set, and no less than two dudes with facial hair.  But let me tell you, these guys pull it off.  Just goes to show that California takes a specific trendy thing and improves upon it?

Anywho, I am thoroughly impressed with this group as they have continued their trek into their music careers with a wonderful second album.  It is mellow and excitable, introverted and dance inducing.  Local Natives are successful at injecting a little bit of everything into snapshots encompassing life in melody, harmony, rhythms, and space.  All in a days work for a music group, eh?

Well, thank yous to the members of Local Natives for providing such inspiring and satisfying music.  Well done.

We are on the road again, will have more for you soon.

Ty

Local Natives Hummingbird: 

iTunes
Spotify

Movie of The Month: Die Hard-y Goodness

Hey everyone!

First off, thank you a billion times over to all that joined us at the legendary Viper Room last Monday night for an epic evening of rock & roll.  Needless to say, we all had an absolute gas performing on stage for you!  A special thanks to DJ Stryker from KROQ for playing our song "Surrender" earlier in the day as well as introducing us at Viper Room, and the CBS film crew that taped our performance for a future air date.  We will keep you updated as to when our feature will air on Stryker's show.  Can't wait!

So.

Die Hard 5.  That's right.  5.  Suck it Lethal Weapon.

We had a night off on Tuesday and figured we would go catch a flick.  There are a few movies out that I want to see, but one in particular topped the list.  Naturally, that film was A Good Day To Die Hard.  Now, I should inform you that this guy (me) is a HUGE appreciator of the Die Hard films.  I've seen them and loved them all, of course the first and third being favorites.  But this fifth installment in the Die Hard series was no slouch.  I may even venture to say I enjoyed it thoroughly.  And I did.  Both ventured and, in thorough fashion, enjoyed said film.

The fifth movie of the Die Hard series did not disappoint.   There was gratuitous destruction, plot twists that I should have seen coming, silly Russian accents, explosions, guns, swearing... everything I wanted it to be.  And of course there was John McClane.  One of the most courageous, unlucky/lucky, and badass characters ever dreamed up to grace the action film genre.  Suffice to say, I got my fix.  Though recounting my experience of this film I have now grown the itch to watch the other Die Hards... alas.

So, if you have that desire to witness the nonchalant ravaging of Moscow and the urge to vicariously take down evil Russian terrorists, by all means, please see this movie.

Ty

Fun Times at Morrison Hotel, Keeping it Casual with Sirius Black and Other Famous Peeps

As we wind down from all the draining hours we have spent in the studio these past few months, the relentless 28 North gang has been hitting the streets that have been so deprived of our presence as of late (elbow to the ribs).

Hangin with Matt Sorum

We had a blast at the opening reception of the Morrison Hotel Gallery, which made its West Coast debut last Thursday at the Sunset Marquis Hotel.  It was a beautiful event that celebrated the true monument of soulful rock & roll grit through photography.  We ran into the very sweet and talented drummer Matt Sorum of Guns 'N Roses and Velvet Revolver fame as well as the legendary actor Gary Oldman of recent Dark Knight releases amongst the many celebrities that were at the party.  Of course we got some pics.  And thank you to Dawn Kamerling of The Press House for throwing such a fine party!  Naaaaaaaiiiled it!
Read more about it here in The LA Beat and check out the gallery here.

Tay and Mike with Gary Oldman

Hangin with Stryker at KROQ

Yesterday we had the great pleasure of stopping by to chat with DJ Stryker of KROQ Los Angeles.  It is a lot of fun to watch a professional perform their craft as Stryker does.  He's also got a great new show on CBS called Lexus Night Out with Ted Stryker which just debuted this past Saturday.  It's a rock & roll show where Stryker gets to do what he loves and feature great young bands.  It airs on Saturdays at 4:30.    Rumor has it we may be getting involved here (nudge nudge, wink wink).

Mike and Edward Furlong

Oh yeah, and we hung out with Edward Furlong, he is the man, and saw Principal Belding last night at Viper Room...  

Dennis Haskins (Principal Belding) announcing at Viper Room

Where we are playing next Monday February 18th!!  That is right and we will be performing our entire album World On Fire.  Do not miss out on this special show at one of our favorite places to play in the whole world, the legendary Viper Room!  Do not miss this epic night!

Tickets/info here

And We Shall Continue Rocking

Well the Super Bowl is over.  Congratulations to the Baltimore Ravens on their second NFL championship.  I can't lie, I'm a hometown loyalist and my intrinsic distaste for The Ravens spawns from the fact that The Ravens were originally The Cleveland Browns.  It's tough being a Cleveland Browns fan.  But congrats to all you Baltimore Ravens fans out there.  Enjoy it.

So.  Today is our final day in the studio, we are putting the stamp on final mixes for our entire record.  It feels great to be done and know that we have put endless hours into making this album as amazing as possible.  A special thanks to producer/engineer Gavin MacKillop who has put in uncountable hours to perfect this masterpiece.  Truly, we are proud of this record.  So it is off to mastering on Wednesday and soon to be injected into your ears.  ROCK!

We are also very excited to be returning to The Viper Room on Monday February 18th!  It is always a gas to play this legendary room, don't miss out on this epic show!  We will be joined by The Bleecker St. Company and Naked Walrus.

Tickets/info here.

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