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Mouse on Mars – Parastrophics

The Düsseldorf based avant-garde, post-techno duo of Jan St. Werner and Andi Toma have been releasing music under the moniker Mouse on Mars for nigh two decades. 2012’s Parastrophics proves that Mouse on Mars, after six years of collective inactivity (there were a number of musical/production side projects in between), are sharp and still relevant.

Since 1994’s Vulvaland, Mouse on Mars has been an electronic chameleon of sorts. MoM collaborated with The Fall’s Mark E. Smith in 2007 as Von Südenfed which calls to mind John Peel’s famous description of The Fall: “They are always different, they are always the same.” The same could be said for Mouse on Mars whose latest album, Parastrophics, shows that St. Werner and Toma are Continue reading →

Tags: Andi Toma, Baku Hipster, Can, Chordblocker Cinnamon Toasted, Cologne, Cricket, Daft Punk, Düsseldorf, electronic, Eliot, facebook, hipster, house, IDM, Jan St. Werner, Kraftwerk, Krautrock, Mark E. Smith, Metrotopy, MoM, Mouse on Mars, Neu!, Parastrophics, Polaroyced, review, Seaqz, techno, The Fall, They Know Your Name, Vulvaland, Wienuss

The Magnetic Fields – Love at the Bottom of the Sea

9 Mar

I had been waiting for The Magnetic Fields to return to their sound on 1999’s 3-volume 69 Love Songs and with Love at the Bottom of the Sea thirteen years later they do just that…it’s just not nearly as good. After 69 Love Songs, The Magnetic Fields released i (which I liked to an extent), Distortion (which I was indifferent to and saw them just after the release of at NYC’s Town Hall venue) and Realism (which I didn’t like). i, Distortion and Realism departed from the synth-heavy pop of The Magnetic Fields’ pre-i works with Continue reading →

Tags: 69 Love Songs, Andrew in Drag, California Girls, distortion, Epitaph For My Heart, Goin' Back to the Country, hipster, Human League, i, Infatuation (With Your Gyration), Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits, Love at the Bottom of the Sea, Quick!, Realism, review, Shirley Simms, Stephin Merritt, synth, The Charm of the Highway, The Magnetic Fields, Town Hall, Weird Al Yankovic, Yeah Oh Yeah!, Your Girlfriend's Face

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Categories Album Reviews
Author the self-hating hipster

Southern Tier Oat

7 Mar

American Double/Imperial Stout

Rating: A-

Poured from bottle to pint glass.

Opaque, dark chocolate (near black) in color with a thin, khaki head that Continue reading →

Tags: American Double, beer, Brown's Brewery, hipster, Imperial Series, Imperial Stout, Oat, oatmeal stout, Raisinettes, review, Southern Tier

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Categories Beer
Author the self-hating hipster

Grimes – Visions

1 Mar

The Montreal native, Claire Boucher, released her third LP as Grimes this year on the ever-growing, do-no-wrong British label 4AD. Visions is Grimes’ most cohesive and impressive work to date and shows a limitless potential for the one-woman operation. In an interview with, um, Interview Magazine, Boucher dubs her work “post-internet” as opposed to limiting her sound to a genre or genres. “Post-internet” is a term that often pisses some [hipsters] off when they hear it assigned to something, much like the way the term “post-modern” (or even worse…”post-post-modern”) is like styrofoam rubbing against itself for me (does that sound make anybody else want to kill?); Boucher goes on to explain that Continue reading →

Tags: 4AD, Be a Body, Christina Aguilera, Clair Boucher, Colour of Moonlight, Depeche Mode, Disney soundtracks, Eight, Gang Gang Dance, Gary Numan, Grimes, hipster, Interview Magazine, Mariah Carey, Mulan, post-internet, review, Skin, Tubeway Army, Visions, Vowels = Space and Time, witch house

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Categories Album Reviews
Author the self-hating hipster

Sleigh Bells – Reign of Terror

24 Feb

Sleigh Bells’ Treats is an album that got played over and over again at my last apartment. The first time that I heard the record, I couldn’t tell whether or not I liked it. A mixture of hip hop, lo-fi, drumline and stadium rock seemed a bit too kitschy…plus, I was too busy focusing on losing at pool which Sleigh Bells unfortunately became a soundtrack for. Then I heard the sample of Funkadelic’s “Can You Get to That?” on “Rill Rill.” I became just as hooked as all of my shilling friends (I listened to a lot of Maggot Brain in college). Sleigh Bells has a sound that is all their own on Treats.

Aside: I actually missed seeing them live in Albany on a weekend in 2010 that some friends and I went to see Belle & Sebastian Continue reading →

Tags: Alexis Krauss, Born to Lose, Bring it On, Can You Get to That, Crush, Derek Miller, Funkadelic, hipster, Leader of the Pack, M.I.A., metalcore, Never Say Die, Poison the Well, Reign of Terror, review, Rill Rill, Sleigh Bells, Straight A's, Treats, True Shred Guitar, You Lost Me

The Artist

22 Feb

With Oscar Fever running rampant, I thought I might try to see a few more of the movies up for nomination this year prior to the Academy Awards. After buying my buddy Brad dinner a few weeks ago (yes, the same Brad that reviewed My Week With Marilyn), a movie man-date on his coin was mandated. After getting home late from a long, shitty day at work, 100 minutes of escapism sounded just about perfect last night.

Neither of us had seen The Artist and we had both heard good things. Here are some of the reviews that I heard: “It’s very good.” “It was pretty good.” “I thought it was really, really good.” “It’s a silent movie. But, it’s good.” With such ‘good’ endorsements, I figured it had to at least be a ‘should see.’

The Artist, from director Michel Hazanavicius, covers the Continue reading →

Tags: Bérénice Bejo, Bernard Herrman, Bill Fagerbakke, Elmer Bernstein, George Valentin, hipster, Hollywood, James Cromwell, Jean Dujardin, John Goodman, Malcolm McDowell, Michel Hazanavicius, Norma Desmond, Peppy Miller, review, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, silent movie, Sunset Boulevard, The Artist, The Day of the Locust, the talkies

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Categories Movie Reviews
Author the self-hating hipster

The Dish & the Spoon at reRun Theater

19 Feb

A quick snippet about reRun theater…

reRun Theater, located in Dumbo Brooklyn, NY, shows independent films in a single theater that seats about 60. Said seats are reclaimed car seats…I hope you like upholstery. There is a bar in the theater. A bar! A bar that serves gastropub fare including popcorn sopped in all kinds of interesting fat. Amazing. Conceivably, one could check out an indie flick, grab a hot dog and some duckfat popcorn and get shlocked simultaneously. I kept myself in check Continue reading →

Tags: Alison Bagnall, Brooklyn, Buffalo 66, Dogfish Head, dramedy, Dumbo, gastropub, Greta Gerwig, hipster, independent film, indie flick, Olly Alexander, reBar, reRun Theater, review, The Dish & the Spoon

John Talabot – ƒIN

15 Feb

The album title and the artist’s last name (despite “John” vs. “Jean”) had me assuming an early 2000’s Parisian house sound. Barcelona’s John Talabot does incorporate elements of house in his debut, ƒIN, however it is far from sounding dated. The musical chronology is intentionally skewed with track titles like “Destiny” (implying future), “When the Past Was Present” and “So Will Be Now…” Talabot, like some of his other successful contemporary electronic genre-benders in Sepalcure and Gang Gang Dance, savvily blends deep house, world music, disco, funk, club and dub-steppy indie pop into one easy-to-swallow pill.

Talabot’s genre shape-shifting is polished with his attention to tracking so Continue reading →

Tags: Bonnaroo, Destiny, Estui, Gang Gang Dance, hipster, John Talabot, Oro y Sangre, Panda Bear, Parisian house, Pional, review, SBTRKT, Sepalcure, So Will Be Now, Talking Heads, Toro Y Moi, Twitter, ƒIN

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Categories Album Reviews
Author the self-hating hipster

Dr. Dog – Be the Void

13 Feb

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 →

Tags: Be the Void, Do the Trick, Dr. Dog, Easy Beat, hipster, How Long Must I Wait, Lonesome, Mott the Hoople, Northern Lights, Oh No, Over Here Over There, Psychadelic Swamp, review, Say Something, Scott McMicken, That Old Black Hole, The Band, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Toby Leaman, Warrior Man

My Week With Marilyn

13 Feb

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 →

Tags: Arthur Miller, biopic, Colin Clark, Eddie Redmayne, hipster, Kenneth Branagh, Marilyn Monroe, Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn, review, Sir Laurence Olivier, The Oscar Season, The Prince and the Showgirl, The Spectrum