Well That's Cool

Despite being an employee at a record store and having a bevy of impressively music obsessed friends, I am often behind in listening to new albums. There are two reasons for this. The first is that I get stuck on one album for weeks. I want nothing else but to listen to that one record at all times—in my car, on my iPod, when I’m working at school, etc. And it’s usually not “new” music either. Too often it’s an old Elliot Smith album, or the Pixies’ greatest hits, or even the Toadies’ Rubberneck. One minute I put in Figure 8, and then before you know it September is half over and I just got around to putting the new Big Boi in my CD player.

The second reason is something I like to call “The Vampire Weekend Vortex.” By all accounts, I should adore Vampire Weekend. I like kitsch. I like indie rock. I like cardigans. I especially like cardigans when paired with literary references. And yet, I loathe Vampire Weekend. They repulse me. This has caused me to arbitrarily form opinions about certain bands on the basis that they may be something like Vampire Weekend. Examples of bands that have fallen into the V.W.V.: Beach House, Animal Collective, The Dum Dum Girls, She & Him, and Wavves. Sometimes a band is stuck there forever (i.e. She & Him), and other times I grit my teeth, push play, and am pleasantly surprised when I actually enjoy the album (i.e. Beach House’s Teen Dream). And then sometimes I listen to the album and I fall in love. While this seldom happens, it was certainly the case when I heard Sleigh Bells’Treats (2010).

Treats is grandiose. It’s bombastic. It’s fast. It draws beats from across genres, and then lets them go like confetti in your speakers. And it’s hard to believe all this noise is coming from just two people. Alexis Krauss layers diverse vocals on top of Derek E. Miller’s energetic guitar and elaborate production to deliver a unique sound. Krauss is two parts cheerleader, one part mean girl on the deliciously infectious track “Riot Rhythm.” “Straight A’s” is nothing short of raucous, while “Crown on the Ground” is the bona fide dance party number. The title track “Treats” punctuates the album precisely, running the closing the credits as if saying, “Now, I want you to sit quietly and think about what you just heard.”

Trying to fit this album into a genre is a difficult task. It’s not straightforward dance pop, nor is it to-the-letter rock music. The best categorical description I’ve come across is “noise pop,” which suits the muscular guitar playing, without denying that the music is indeed bubbly. If The Chemical Brothers and Liars had a lovechild, they would name it Sleigh Bells.

Treats was released jointly by Mom + Pop Music and M.I.A.’s N.E.E.T Recordings and is Sleigh Bells’ debut album. I’m seriously eager to hear how they plan to follow this sonorous gem. You can always listen before you buy at OZ Music, so stop by and check it out. You’ll find Treats on my employee picks shelf, for a limited time sale price. Sleigh Bells defied my expectations, and once again proved my Vampire Weekend Vortex to be a faulty construct. I hope you delight in its distinctive sound and raw energy, too.

—Ally Nevarez

Popularity: 10% [?]

This week‘s podcast will happen live from the Alcove. The event starts at 8pm with the taping 8:30pm. I know what you’re thinking, “the podcast at the Alcove how could it get any better?”. Well, what if we told you that there would be $2 Good People pints (from 8 till 9 or while supplies last). So come out to the classiest bar in town, get the scoop on what’s going on next and enjoy the finest beer from Alabama’s local brewery. Hope to see you there!

Popularity: 5% [?]

Telling the story of George Hardy, one of the stars of Troll 2, the sequel to nothing, with not a troll in sight (“we called them Goblins”), this is a documentary that probably entertains more than the mo

vie it references.  The film uses Hardy’s participation in the project, filmed twenty years ago when he was working as a new dentist in Utah, as a jumping point to explore the affection that a surprisingly large group of people have for this odd, straight to video, piece of cinematic history.  The viewer is able to go with George as he discovers the depth of the fandom that surrounds this work, from annual viewing parties to film inspired games and a couple who sculpted their own goblin masks.

Though the film is interspersed with many clips from the movie, the underlying theme is not so much the wonder that is Troll 2, but instead the unique experience that an audience has with any type of movie, even those of the supposedly worst caliber.  George remarked before the documentary began that he considered this project a love letter to Alabama, since it included many snap shots of his town and the people he is close to.  It would be more accurate, I believe, to call this a love letter to the movies.  Such a letter would be too banal if it centered on some outstanding work that was lauded so often that praise becomes another element of white noise, alienating the general public.  By focusing on this movie, we are able to strip away the pomp and circumstance of cinematic classics and see instead the simple, raw way in which a movie can grip on to people, to speak to something in them that doesn’t need fancy scripts, good acting, or even a rational plot.

The director of Troll 2, a swarthy Italian who can barely communicate with his former actors (though apparently his language skills are much better now than they were twenty years ago, a fact that is most likely the reasoning behind each bizarrely performed scene), is at times a comic figure, and not comic by his own desire.  He does not see his film as bad in any way.  He honestly believes that what he made is a genuine portrait of the American family, a deep look into the things that threaten togetherness in the modern age.  And, from the perspective of his wife and the film’s writer, the inherent evils of vegetarianism.  As I said, this seriousness puts him in a comical position since even the deepest fans comment on the horrible state of his work.  In the end, however, his foolish stance is vindicated as he explains that the heart of movies is how they reach the heart of the viewer, by whatever method, whatever story, whatever mark of quality the critics put on it.  The fact that the movie garnered so much love, regardless of what the actors may complain about now (these “dogs” as he dubs them), makes it a success, makes it a classic.  This is the signature of the cinematic love letter, the summation of what the movie going experience is – sincerity of expression, if not necessarily tantamount skill.

Loftiness aside, it was great fun, with a previous familiarity of Troll 2not required.  The only low point that I saw was in the treatment of Margo Prey, the woman who played the mother in the movie, which made me exceedingly uncomfortable.  I’m not sure what the intention of the filmmakers was, but it seemed that Margo’s life after her appearance in the movie was handled with great jest even though it was clear that she was suffering in some way, though we weren’t privy to what exactly her problem was.  This comic level was acceptable in the overly earnest director, but seemed highly disrespectful with her.  This of course could be a flaw in my own sensibilities.  Such complaint aside, Best Worst Movieis without a doubt one to see.

As for Troll 2…..

Obviously, after learning so much about the behind the scenes work and the adamant following afterward of this film, it is hard to resist seeing it for yourself.  In my case, I have to admit that I had Nilbog overkill fifteen minutes into the film.  It truly is terrible, accented by the fact that you’ve just watched an explanation of the extremely convoluted plot and seen many clips of the most hilarious parts.  Perhaps if I’d waited a few days to follow up I’d be a serious fan too, though more likely is the fact that “bad films” just aren’t my thing.

Two things that can’t go unaddressed when you’re talking about Troll 2: homoeroticism and vegetarianism.  The men are always shirtless, sleeping close together in small spaces, and one boy won’t be accepted by his girlfriend’s family because he “spends too much time with his boys.”  In fact, the only women in this film, aside from the queen of the goblin people and a few zombie-faced goblins, are the mother and the daughter, one of whom we barely see and the other who is flat chested and lifts weights in her bedroom.  The most poignant bit of homoeroticism comes in a seduction scene where the goblin queen “pops corn” with one of the human boys, letting their sexual heat explode the kernels as the two gnaw on an obscenely phallic ear of corn.

The evils of vegetarians are what drive the entire plot.  These evil creatures don’t believe in the consumption of flesh, unless that flesh has been transformed into a chlorophyll-spewing carcass after consuming foaming broth or eating green sandwiches (sorry, should that have been spoiler alerted?).  There’s not much to say about that angle aside from now we finally know how to defeat these leaf eaters.

Thanks for that backpack, Grandpa Seth, we owe you one.

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“Trust your own instinct.  Your mistakes might as well be your own, instead of someone else’s.”  — Billy Wilder

–Dosty Glory

Popularity: 7% [?]