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The Jam, like contemporaries The Sex Pistols and The Clash were at the forefront of the British Punk movement that started seeping into the mainstream. In fact, The Jam started as a support act for The Clash in 1977. However, there were certain characteristics that differentiated them from their punk counterparts. The Jam didn’t wear ripped clothes but wore suits and ties; they played well rehearsed shows where the others’ shows were considered more off the cuff; and they were not ashamed to draw inspiration from bands of the 60′s (The Kinks, The Who, and even Motown).

In 1982, to the suprise of fans, press, and band members, The Jam’s front-man Paul Weller announced the band would disband. They were the biggest name in the UK. Their just released single, “Beat Surrender” had made it to number one on the charts within just a week.

In 1983 we are introduced to Weller’s new project The Style Council via an EP that was released in only Japan and Holland, Introducing the Style Council. With The Style Council, Weller partnered up w/ keyboardist Mick Talbot and then sixteen year old drummer Steve White (whom still plays with Weller today). The result is a broad and eclectic style that boasts elements of soul, pop, jazz, and new wave.

Introducing the Style Council begins with the long but very smooth Long Hot Summer, which sounds like some lost Motown track. The next two tracks, Headstart For Happiness and Speak Like a Child are a couple of heavily infectious pop tunes that will keep the knees wagging and the head bopping. There is another version of Long Hot Summer and then there is The Paris Match. The Paris Match is a sad but smooth ballad about loss. Listen for a guitar and vocals contribution from Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt from Everything but the Girl. There is then a jazzy keyboard/piano track backed by bongos in Mick’s Up. The EP concludes with the bass rich dance, but perhaps trite, track in Money-Go-Round. I think it works and I’m a sucker for Mick’s keyboard jams.

The Style Council – Long Hot Summer

The Style Council – Headstart For Happiness

The Style Council – Speak Like a Child

When I was 14 years old I discovered this random copy of Victory Style II, which was basically a mixtape put out by Victory Records and contained on it the tracks of artists who would come to define my highschool life and beyond. Snapcase, Hatebreed, Earth Crisis. I guess to the normal reader, bands like this seem unnappealing, perhaps scary, and you know what, you’re absolutely right. Standing shoulder to shoulder in a house we called the Killtime in West Philadelphia, you realize, this isn’t for everyone, but for those who understand it, its pure magic. There’s something about taking all of your anger, every last ounce of emotion that you can’t seem to convey to your parents or your friends or your boyfriends and girlfriends, and then just hearing a couple of raw, heavily distorted barre chords, and the scream of someone who feels the exact same way you do. It’s something that unless you’re there, you can’t really explain it. I’m trying here, but I doubt you’ll understand.

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“True story. On January 15th, 1919, a huge storage tank of molasses ruptured and sent 2.3 million gallons of the stuff rushing through downtown Boston at 35 miles per hour. Imagine walking along, minding your own business, and being violently swept up in a wave of sticky sweetness, enveloping you, tumbling your body end over end until you were dizzy from the motion.

You could do that. Or, you could listen to Airiel.”

Airiel hits you hard, enveloping you in a wave of the reverb and distortion of shimmering, weaving guitars, doleful vocals of frontman Jeremy Wrenn, and the steady Cocteau-Twins-pulse of a drum machine. They’re the loudest band in Chicago.

Shoegaze never left.

Kiss Me Sadly – Airiel EP
FireFly – Winks & Kisses : Melted
Airtight Angels – Winks & Kisses : Crackled

Myspace
Airiel.com
Studio Blog

image copyright www.airiel.com

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from Jeremy Greenspan and Matt Didemus. I imagined the duo from Ontario Canada using nothing but a bunch of keyboards, laptops, and peddles. Perhaps they would be button pushers providing nothing more then background music while the crowd mingles. I arrived at the Church at 8:15, fifteen minutes after the doors were suppose to open. It was a cold Thursday night, somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 degrees Fahrenheit (6C). I didn’t want to wait. I waited, for one hour and fifteen minutes. I was pissed and knowing the reputation of Philadelphia fans, I figured they would be pissed too, but they didn’t seem to notice they were waiting outside for over an hour. They didn’t seem to care. Maybe they knew something I didn’t.

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At first it looks like you just entered a japanese online store. A bright and simple layout with different categories. After a second look you may realize an extensive source of different creatives and their works. Read the rest of this entry »

Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari – 1920 – Robert Wiene

La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc – 1928 – Carl Theodor Dreyer

Ugetsu monogatari – 1953 – Kenji Mizoguchi

The Night of the Hunter – 1955 – Charles Laughton

L’année derniére à Marienbad – 1961 Alain Resnais

Le Feu follet – 1963 – Louis Malle

Il deserto rosso – 1964 – Michelangelo Antonioni

Repulsion – 1965 – Roman Polanski

Point Blank – 1967 – John Boorman

Faces – 1968 – Jonh Cassavetes

Johnny Got His Gun – 1971 – Dalton Trumbo

Solyaris – 1972 – Andrei Tarkovski

Don’t Look Now – 1973 – Nicolas Roeg

Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma – 1975 – Pier Paolo Pasolini

Berlin Alexanderplatz – 1980 – Rainer Werner Fassbinder

A Zed & Two Noughts – 1985 – Peter Greenaway

Dekalog – 1989 – Krzysztof Kieslowski

Chung hing sam lam – 1994 – Wong Kar-Wai

A Com̩dia de Deus Р1995 РJọo C̩sar Monteiro

Gummo – 1997 – Harmony Korine

He liu – 1997 – Tsai Ming-liang

Mat i syn – 1997 – Aleksandr Sokurov

L’humanité – 1999 – Bruno Dumont

Dancer in the Dark – 2000 – Lars von Trier

La Pianiste – 2001 – Michael Haneke

When I made the decision to write this article, it was 76 degrees (24 C). Now it is 39 degrees (4 C) with a chance of snow tomorrow. Regardless my mind in honed in on the warmer weather and this album. Buildings Breeding’s self titled freshman debut is as warm an album you are going to find. The album is a remarkbly consistent collection of songs filled with handclaps, tamborines, fuzzy guitars, and short but catchy California Pop nuggets.

The band’s listed influences include The Beatles, T. Rex, and The Beach Boys which all shine through; though perhaps the most evident influence is The Shins. Polish Barely Holds and Beesting feature similar uses of guitar strums, synth, and harmonies that recall The Celibate Life. Despite the similarities, Buildings Breeding has a more romantic and breezy tinge.

Perhaps, my favorite track is the most romanic and breezy on the album, Lion On Summer St. .

Their album is available through Mushpot Records.

http://buildingsbreeding.com

Buildings Breeding – Polish Barely Holds

Buildings Breeding – Stars Are Smitten

Buildings Breeding – Lion On Summer St.

A couple links for you:

La Blogotheque released a beautiful little video of The Arcade Fire doing an exclusive performance of Neon Bible in an elevator just before a show in Paris. It also records the opening song, Wake Up. I got goosebumps.

Also, Perfect Sound Forever is an intelligent online music magazine, with a pretty wide range of articles and reviews. Worth a look. Or a bookmark :]

Some days have a big and black etiquette. Those days are without any hope. Some people may call these days of depressions. Others have an affinity for such moments and can express them in such beautiful ways as Siri Gjære and Tord Gustavsen.

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