Dr. Dog is a band that has released average to above average LPs since their formation in 1999 with the exception of their hard to come by first release, Psychedelic Swamp, which I have deemed unlistenable after multiple tries (though I’m told that don’t have the complete album). Their seventh album released earlier this month, Be the Void, is entirely average.
Dr. Dog has always been a crafty late 60’s to mid 70’s pop/rock rehash outfit, but Be the Void finds them Continue reading
Here’s a review of My Week With Marilyn from SHH’s newest contributor, Brad.
I recently performed my yearly movie lobotomy to save room for what we all know as “The Oscar season.” This season started a little late for me but I managed to squeeze almost all of them into my dome. Sad as it is, both Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy (recently reviewed by the Self-Hating Hipster) and My Week With Marilyn did not make the cut for best picture. Thankfully I still have a playful imagination and decided to host the Oscars myself, luckily finding one theater in upstate NY that isn’t buns; The Spectrum.
Having never been there before I was happy with my 6:20 movie experience. The theater is quaint which was perfect for this particular biographical movie. Knowing nothing about Ms. Monroe besides the fact that she was a prim lookin’ star gazer, one would foresee Continue reading
The news of Whitney Houston’s untimely death happened to come as a facebook update in the middle of my trying to explain to my girlfriend the importance of the grandfathers of electronic music, Kraftwerk, and so I could not believe the coincidence in one of my friends posting this minutes later. It is a Richard X remix of Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” and Continue reading
It’s rare that something I saw on a friend’s Facebook status would compel me so far as to write a post about it. The status in question, among other things, touched on whether or not people still care about Radiohead. Yes, that Radiohead. The one with the skipping, prancing, manic ball of ??? for a lead singer, the one with the spaced-out composer of a lead guitar player, not to mention an underrated drummer. While this is less a question about their earlier material, to what is the appropriate response to the band now that it really feels like there is nothing left.
I was at a wine tasting over the weekend. That sentence is a lot less cool than it sounded in my brain, but nevertheless, Continue reading
I hesitate to call this a movie review, rather I hope that it sparks some interesting discussion about Banksy and how much of a cheeky fuck he is. In addition, I hope that everybody reading this has already seen the movie, making this here article beautifully irrelevant. All that being said, let us begin.
Firstly, let us look at the name of the film: Exit Through the Gift Shop. On the surface it stands as an obvious Continue reading
Of Montreal is a band that I sort of lost track of after 2007’s Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? From what I’ve heard of the three albums since then, Skeletal Lamping, False Priest and this year’s Paralytic Stalks, I’m not so sure that’s a bad thing.
I am a huge fan of some of Of Montreal’s earlier 2nd gen. Elephant 6 work: Cherry Peel, The Gay Parade, Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies and Aldhils Arboretum. My favorite Of Montreal album to date is Continue reading
Air took us to the moon with their first LP, Moon Safari, and 14 years later they bring us back with Le Voyage Dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon).
I knew the title sounded familiar and it wasn’t until I saw the cover that I remembered my History of Film course in college. Le Voyage Dans la Lune (which can be seen here in its entirety, and it’s all of 13 minutes long so I highly encourage you to watch it) is an early, groundbreaking film directed by the ingenious Georges Méliès in 1902. Méliès was a French illusionist that arguably invented special effects with his “camera tricks,” mat shots, stop action, etc…
Air’s music has often been referred to as “cinematic,” Continue reading
Sharon Van Etten’s third album, Tramp, is an extremely introspective and emotional record. Have you ever walked in on somebody crying their heart out to a close friend of theirs? Instead of the “get the hell out of here!” teary-eyed look one would expect, Van Etten’s raspy yet soothing hum, akin to Kathleen Edward’s folkier acoustic work, welcomes the listener in as if to say “I don’t mind bearing my soul to a total stranger.” The album parks the listener Continue reading
Welcome to February, arguably one of the crappiest months of the year. We’ve got Valentines day, football madness, and today the groundhog didn’t see his shadow which means we’ve got six weeks of more pleasant weather to look forward to!
But have no fear, because I have a quite a list of beards to give to all you which, trust me, will keep you nice and warm during the next few cold weeks!
This week’s beard belongs to someone who most might call a “man’s man”, I have enough issues with that statement, but I figure it’s important when discussing the quality of one’s beard. Continue reading
the self-hating hipster 
Palahniuk – Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey
1 FebRant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey by Chuck Palahniuk (2007)
I fee like an jerkoff just writing this review. Yes, it’s come time to review a Palahniuk novel…
**Aside: Remember Fight Club?? Remember 1oth grade when the movie came out on DVD and found its way into the hands of manboys across the nation excited by violence, an occasional boob (sorry, girls) and a sweet soundtrack (that may or may not have discovered Pixies and Massive Attack for you)? Remember finding out a year and a half later that it was a book, reading it in a day and then talking to other people who had read the book and were fascinated that you read books too? “Did you like the book better than the movie?” “I dunno…both were pretty sweet. You wanna go drink a beer at my parents’ house on lunch?” I did like Fight Club (both the film and the novel) and still do, but Continue reading →
Tags: boosting, Buster "Rant" Casey, Chuck Palahniuk, contributors, dark comedy, Day-Timers, Fight Club, grotesque, hipster, Kurt Vonnegut, Massive Attack, mish-mash, Night-Timers, oral biography, Pixies, Rant, Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey, sci-fi, Self-Hating Hipster, social commentary, transcendence