indieROCKE

Backseat by Atlas Genius. Heard it on Alt Nation/SiriusXM during...

Sat, 26 May 2012 18:47:14 -0500

Backseat by Atlas Genius. Heard it on Alt Nation/SiriusXM during work this week and it’s been on heavy rotation across all my devices ever since. Can’t wait till the EP comes out on June 12th, which I will definitely be picking up. I’ve been a fan ever since they released Trojans and I’m looking forward to hearing more of their sound. Great way to start off Memorial Day weekend here in the US. Be sure to check them out if you like it.

Five Dances All I can say is that from the very first look at...

Mon, 21 May 2012 19:06:00 -0500

Five Dances

All I can say is that from the very first look at this teaser, the film quietly took hold and drew me into it. Like an embrace among passing acquaintances heading towards good friendship, it sort of pulls you into its path ever so slightly reveling the beauty of its own nature as you seek to become more familiar. First of all, I’ve always had an affinity and deep admiration for dancers and how they use their bodies to speak and communicate such things that cannot merely be said as words, but rather through expressive movement that can be transcendent and something greater than the sum of its parts.

This film feels so honest to me and I was struck by how nuanced its presentation was that it caught me off guard at first. It’s got Ryan Steele from Disney’s broadway production of Newsies as one of the lead dancers along with Jarrah Gurrie serving as editor on the film. A couple of years ago I stumbled across a director’s reel of Jarrah Gurrie set to M83 on YT that was truly unique and wonderful, which lead me to watching some of his amazing breathtaking shorts. These things coupled with the narrative of the film itself made it a must for me to help contribute and marks my first ever backing on Kickstarter.

I can’t wait to see the final product and if you’re drawn in as I was check out their project page below.

(via Kickstarter - “Five Dances”, a feature film by Alan Brown)

Jarrah Gurrie - 2011 Director’s Reel via YouTube

Good Morning! This is my plan for today, laying here and reading...

Mon, 07 May 2012 10:23:50 -0500

Good Morning! This is my plan for today, laying here and reading books on my nook. (Taken with instagram)

Booklist: The Fault in Our Stars

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:10:00 -0600

It’s hard to put into to words how I felt overall after I was finished reading John Green’s wonderfully written The Fault in Our Stars. The story itself centers around two young teens with cancer. Hazel Grace Lancaster is the narrator of the story and the object of her eventual affection is the affable Augustus Waters. Hazel suffers from a terminal form of thyroid cancer that has severally damaged her lungs to the point of requiring the use of an oxygen tank to help her breathe. While attending a support group she meets newcomer Augustus who has joined the group to support their mutual friend Isaac. Prior to his arrival in the group, Augustus lost a leg to a malignant bone tumor and the story begins from there.

While cancer and its “side effects” on its characters is a central theme of the book, it is not so much a book about cancer as it is a book about the big questions of the universe and desire from all of us to find answers and meaning from it. I love the way in which Hazel and Augustus handle the circumstances of their situation with such humor and witty sarcasm. The book is filled with passages and skillfully arranged prose that will alight your face with the widest of grins and give rise to easy laughter as you progress through its pages. While this works in making Hazel and Augustus easy to like and connect with as characters, it is ultimately the honest truths they reveal to each other and the reader that make us fall in love with them.

It’s been awhile since I have read something so honest and affecting that I can only really describe it by quoting Augustus from the book:

“That’s the thing about pain,” Augustus said, and then glanced back at me. “It demands to be felt.”

And indeed, it does. But, luckily for us love does as well and I found a whole lot to love about The Fault in Our Stars.

Book via Amazon

"Lying alone in the dark with Nate I feel as if I’ve only traded in one form of loneliness for..."

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 04:38:00 -0600

“Lying alone in the dark with Nate I feel as if I’ve only traded in one form of loneliness for another. An empty kind for one that enriches. Nate Orton isn’t who I thought he was. But none of us are. We can never be how others imagine us.”

-
from The Fall: A Novel by Ryan Quinn

"Whether something strikes in you the fear of God or sparks an erotic fantasy, or both, you can bet..."

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 04:32:00 -0600

“Whether something strikes in you the fear of God or sparks an erotic fantasy, or both, you can bet that someone else has already felt the same emotion, even if they had no way of articulating it. We are individuals, and as such we are not automatically connected to one another by emotions. But because we tend to find comfort in being connected, we use art to bridge these connections. By replicating emotions, art makes the private universal.”

- from The Fall: A Novel by Ryan Quinn

July by Youth Lagoon. One of my favorites from YL’s The...

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 23:21:23 -0600

July by Youth Lagoon. One of my favorites from YL’s The Year of Hibernation along with 17, Afternoon, and Daydream. I love the way the song builds ever so intently as it moves through its progression culminating in its wonderful finale at the end. It just “sounds beautiful,” yet when its over you’re sort of left longing for more. I also find it interesting watching music videos for songs you like, especially when the visual narrative you’ve constructed in your head to go along with it is presented so differently in physical form.

Call Your Girlfriend by Robyn. I only wish I could get my body...

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 21:56:51 -0600

Call Your Girlfriend by Robyn. I only wish I could get my body to move like this, especially at the section starting around the 2:25 mark and that quick floor thrust earlier… mad hot, is what it is. I’m going to have to start practicing around the house for sure when nobody’s home. There’s something about her that I just love, like she’s gonna dance no matter what. She’s a feel good guilty pleasure of mine and I can’t help it, her energy is just so infectious (in a good way). You can’t deny the awesomeness that is held within those moves and her shoulder shrugs. I like Dancing On My Own too which is great too.

Nuclear Seasons by Charli XCX. I first heard this song as I was...

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 20:14:32 -0600

Nuclear Seasons by Charli XCX. I first heard this song as I was driving to the post office to pickup my morning mail. It just came on the radio and there I was in that moment feeling like it was exactly what I needed, almost as if I had been searching for something like this feeling for months and I didn’t even know it. I love the atmospheric quality of track and it’s lulling synths rising and falling as you progress your way through. We survive and I can indeed feel it inside of the soul oh ah oh oh ah oh.

Free MP3 via Charli XCX Official Website

Machinery by The Naked and Famous. For some reason when I hear...

Sun, 27 Mar 2011 20:26:37 -0500

Machinery by The Naked and Famous. For some reason when I hear this song it feels like it should be in a movie. Overlaid to the part where the hot guy/girl is walking in slow motion and the camera is panning seductively over them in its quest to capture their siren-like movement down the hall. This is what I would imagine that feeling would sound like as the main character is overwhelmed collectively by the racing of their own heart beating within their chest as the connection is made between the two of them.

Album via iTunes

Strictly Game by Harlem Shakes. Currently my I’m running...

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 00:38:00 -0600

Strictly Game by Harlem Shakes. Currently my I’m running ten minutes late and I just got in the car kick off starter for my morning melodic transit to work. Good stuff, definitely drum your fingers on the steering wheel material.

Album via Amazon MP3

Monogamy I don’t know what it is...

Mon, 07 Feb 2011 22:02:00 -0600

Monogamy

I don’t know what it is about psychological dramas with plots that seem to unravel more and more as they reveal themselves, but they always seem to draw me in and this film definitely seems like it would fall in that category. From what I’ve read online about the plot it’s basically about this couple Theo (Chris Messina) and Nat (Rashida Jones) who are engaged and about to wed. She is a laid back budding musician and he is a wedding photographer who becomes apathetic photographing brides and grooms as the primary means of his work. So Theo starts a side business where clients pay him to follow them and secretly photograph their lives I guess as a means of revealing something about them in the process. One such client is Subgirl (Meital Dohan) with whom Theo becomes obsessed with and it starts unraveling from there.

I’ve seen Chris Messina in a couple of roles such as Amy Adams’s husband in Julia & Julia, also in Away We Go and Devil which he turned out good performances, but this one looks to be his chance at a strong leading role.

Looking forward to checking this out and if anyone knows the song at the end of this trailer comment below and lay it on me.

Bigger Than Us by White Lies. I just recently downloaded their...

Sun, 06 Feb 2011 13:48:00 -0600

Bigger Than Us by White Lies. I just recently downloaded their new album Ritual on Amazon MP3 the other day and I’m really digging it so far. I started liking them back when I first heard To Lose My Life. Pretty much every song on that album is gold, but there is something about From The Stars that always draws me in and I keep it in steady rotation on a lot of my iPod playlists. For me, White Lies embodies the best of atmospheric 80’s ballads while giving them a modern edge saturated with emotional swells.

Album via Amazon MP3

"I’m going to let you in on a little secret. I’m not who you think I am. My real name is..."

Sun, 06 Feb 2011 02:22:00 -0600

“I’m going to let you in on a little secret. I’m not who you think I am. My real name is Peg and I’m a hardcore lesbian. I’m into leather play, butch black girls, skunking, pulling the blinds, and poodle balling! Whatever you got, I’ll eat it, snort it, and ride it baby! Look go along with this and it will work for you. Look at me… I clear $165 dollars a week… I moved out of my storage unit… I’m on TV!”

- Britney Spears/Amber Louise on Will & Grace via Youtube

Fuck Me, Ray Bradbury by Rachel Bloom. Incredibly funny with an...

Sat, 11 Sep 2010 20:51:00 -0500

Fuck Me, Ray Bradbury by Rachel Bloom. Incredibly funny with an irresistible and infectious chorus, what’s not to like here? I can’t get it out of my head and it brings a smile to my face every time. It’s always nice to see someone giving great authors they love and appreciation they deserve. I haven’t read any of his books, but I think I’m going to read Something Wicked This Way Comes just out of respect.

In This Shirt by The Irrepressibles, Wow, I just discovered this...

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 00:49:00 -0500

In This Shirt by The Irrepressibles, Wow, I just discovered this online through a tweet by @shep689 referencing this video (NSFW) on YouTube and it’s amazing, like a theatrical ballad in your ears. From what I’ve gathered you can pickup the full release CD Mirror Mirror from Amazon if you live in the States and are wanting to get your hands on it, which is what I’m going to do. I haven’t found it yet in the iTunes US store, but hopefully it will be there soon. Check it out, what do you guys think? No copyright infringement intended, just spreading the good word.

Black Swan Two words… Natalie Portman. Ever since I was a kid...

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 05:00:00 -0500

Black Swan

Two words… Natalie Portman. Ever since I was a kid and watched Anywhere but Here I’ve always been drawn in by her, much like the effect of Zooey Deschanel’s character of Summer Fin in the movie (500) Days of Summer. I love the performances she brings to her characters and she always seems to radiate a sense of purpose in the work she does. Can’t wait to see this when it opens.

Sick Day + The O.C.

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 17:21:00 -0500

Last night I was up off and on with a stomach bug, so I stayed home today sick and sleep most of the day away. But all afternoon I’ve been feeling nostalgic and I decided to indulge myself in some extending viewings of The O.C. Remember back in 2003, before the iPhone and Twitter when we had Seth Cohen with his glorious sarcasm plus the witty one liners. It’s sort of surreal how things have changed so much since then, what with the economy being what it is, and the fact I almost forgot about Phantom Planet.

I think I included California on every mix CD I made two years after that show debuted. As much as I hate to admit it, that show opened up the the doors to a lot of good bands and music to me. Even now with a lot of the stuff I listen to I can trace some off my roots back to those days in my teens where I would lay awake at night and listen to the songs I heard on the show from guys like Turin Brakes, Joseph Arthur, and of course Death Cab for Cutie. Wow, those were the days indeed.

Booklist: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Sun, 28 Mar 2010 23:28:00 -0500

Okay, so I just finished reading Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo on my Nook and by in large it was a very good read full of interwoven plots with layers in each, creating a lot of depth in the story. It starts out when one of the main protagonists Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist who has been recently convicted of libel and is on the skids so to speak, is hired by Henrik Vanger, a retired wealthy business tycoon to investigate the disappearance of his niece Harriet Vanger on a fateful day more than 40 years prior. Blomkvist finds help in his investigation from Lisabeth Salander, an emaciated girl with tattoos and piercings who is cunning and gifted when it comes to finding out what secrets people harbor.

I won’t get much into the plot details but I liked it and it reminded me a lot of Gosford Park and Clue. Because the Vanger family is about as dysfunctional as it gets, the list of possible suspects, most of which are wretched family members, who could have played a part in her disappearance is far-reaching and constantly changing with plot twists throughout the progression of the story. What I found unenjoyable was how graphic some of the story elements were at times primarily dealing with violence against women, including instances of rape and assault. It’s not for younger readers and it was a little unsettling to say the least.

All in all though, if you enjoy mystery-thrillers with a vast amount of developed characters and changing plot twists, you’ll probably like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I intend on reading the second book in the series The Girl Who Played with Fire in a couple of weeks or so.

Book via Barnes & Noble

Film via Apple Movie Trailers

LOOKBOOK.nu: Saturday Hype

Sat, 27 Mar 2010 15:45:00 -0500

LOOKBOOK.nu: Saturday Hype:

We Built This City by Adam G, I really like the contrast on this pairing having a bold provocative graphic tee matched with a relax-down flannel shirt and dark jeans… it’s pretty cool and nicely done.