Shellac - “Dude Incredible”

Pitchfork top tracks for 2014
Next up Shellac - “Dude Incredible”. Number 80

A very rock sounding song. Really good guitar. Just awesome rocking guitar. Its got a strong classic rock vibe but the song is much less structured, or it is structured much more non traditionally with some interesting transactions.

On the negative, I think the song presents a socially harmful view of gender relations. That said, its allegedly written from the perspective of a troupe of monkeys (yay google!). I’m not so sure about that, there are some attitudes in there that sound very familiar to me, and I’ve never had a conversation with a monkey (other than in the narrow technical sense in which people are monkeys). A lot of people whose music is misogynist claim that they are writing from a perspective or that it’s a character or whatever. But on the other other hand, monkeys!

I’ll leave this with a net neutral review, but with the caveat that if you really love guitars or monkeys you should check this song out.

Arca - “Thievery”

Pitchfork top tracks for 2014
Next up Arca - “Thievery”. Number 85

I don’t know how this song is official marketed and placed, but to me it sounds like an OK but not great techno song. Its techno ambient with some beats and sounds and has a vaguely Latin vibe created more by samples than by music.

For my purposes it’s too fast and friendly to be one of those disturbing / interesting techno songs like Easy Lee, Marionette, or Blood on my Hands. But it’s too slow and more importantly too choppy with various pauses and faux skips to play in the background while doing something fast that benefits from a beat and rhythm.

Note: despite giving this one a medium review, I do think this song is worth listening to at least twice.

Cloud Nothings - “I'm Not Part of Me”

Pitchfork top tracks for 2014
Next up Cloud Nothings - “I'm Not Part of Me”. Number 89

Its fine. Vocals are a little bit receptive, but the song pulls it off better than most. Its branded as indie rock, but the sensibility seems quite poppy to me. There really isn’t anything wrong with this song, but life is short and there are other similar songs in this space that are just better. If somewhat upbeat poppy nominally indie rock songs about relationships are what you go for then check this out. - Edit Rereading this, it seems a little harsh to me. I'm still not saying its great, but it really isn't bad

Hundred Waters - “Murmurs”

Pitchfork top tracks for 2014
Next up Hundred Waters - “Murmurs”. Number 91

On the plus side I like the singers voice and the music / sound is interesting. On the down side the song initially starts off with very repetitive vocals. This may be for a legitimate effect, but its still repetitive.

The song gets a lot more interesting by the mid to later half of the song and incorporates a lot of cool ambient sounds to good effect on top of the core music which is also cool. Unfortunately, the song is sort of a downer, so while its good I don’t know if I would put it on a playlist that I planned on listening to often. My life would need to get a lot worse before this song really hit the spot.

I'll probably check out the full album since vocals and sounds are both very nice and I could potentially find some songs with a different tone.

Merchandise - Green Lady

Pitchfork top tracks for 2014
Next up Merchandise "Green Lady". Number 98

I like the music intro a lot, and it stays interesting with a retro vibe throughout. However, the vocals feel too down in the mix to me though, and also a bit muddy. This mixing choice might be motivated by the singer not having a great voice. The song might also benefit from a few more concessions to a pop sensibility, like adding some memorable / catchy “hooks”. Even Talking Heads had clear verse chorus structures. It closes well though.

Steve Gunn "Milly's Garden"

Pitchfork top tracks for 2014
Next up Steve Gunn "Milly's Garden". Number 99

A nice’n easy indie rock song whose guitar work has a little bit of a country twang. It’s a pretty good song, but not super exciting. Its worth checking out if you are in the mood for a guy singing and playing guitar. If I was in a bar and this guy was playing, I’d be happy with the music. But compared to the universe of every recorded song ever, this track is not enough to make me check out the whole album.

Elisa Ambrogio "Superstitious"

Pitchfork top tracks for 2014
First up Elisa Ambrogio "Superstitious". Number 100

Enhh. It’s not bad, it’s better than a lot of things, but it’s not great. Music starts off interesting, but never gets nuts or builds up in a way that’s satisfying. The voice is not amazing, its restrained and conveys the emotions its aiming to convey. But it doesn’t rock and it doesn’t soar.

Cultural Product – Film – Antichrist

Cultural Product – Film – Antichrist

Overall: This is an excellent film that does what it does very well. Unfortunately, what it does includes, at times, being painful to watch.

Pro: This is a von Trier film and has a lot of what you might expect: a generally dark tone, visually striking moments, great acting (Charlotte Gainsbourg won best actress), excellent dialogue and so on.

General Commentary: In the same way that Dancer in the Dark is a musical and a Von Trier film, and Melancholia is a sci-fi and a Von Trier film, and Dogville is a meta theatrical play (like Our Town), Antichrist is a horror film and a Von Trier film. Just as it does everything a Von Trier film should do, it also tries to do everything a horror film should do. Traditional genre elements like the sexuality = impending death link are present. There are scenes where a description of the action could equally describe what you see on a genre classic like The Shining, Silence of the Lambs, Blair Witch Project, or even Saw.

This is a very different film than Kill Bill, but its basically doing the same thing. A director with a distinctive style takes a “low” genre and makes a film with all the formal elements of that genre without making any compromises regarding their distinctive style of films. If you read a review of Antichrist that doesn’t mention Kill Bill (or something else like it) you can ignore it because the reviewer fundamentally doesn’t get what this film is doing.

Cons: I thought The Shining, Silence of the Lambs, and Blair Witch Project were all great films. I didn’t see Saw (or any of its sequels or imitators) because based on what I knew about it I didn’t expect to enjoy it. Unsurprisingly, the scenes which reminded me of movies I thought were good seemed good to me. The scenes which reminded me of a movie I skipped because I thought watching it would be painful were painful to watch.