Drama Rod Lott
Not based on the Barenaked Ladies song, “One Week” begins with young Ben
Tyler (Joshua Jackson and his perpetual 5 o'clock shadow) being told he
has stage IV cancer of the blood, liver and lymph nodes, and thus,
little time left to live.
Letters to the Editor Mickey McVay
Two April 27 letters (“No fooling mother nature,” Ron Ferrell; “Cutting up,” Hannah Harder) to Oklahoma Gazette bemoaned fossil fuels and nuclear-generated electricity.
Watch some indie-punk Canucks dyin’ on the inside.
You could argue that punk is inherently unambitious music, but hardcore sextet Fucked Up’s recent expansive rock opera, “David Comes to Life," convincingly argues that it can aim high. Watch as David and his gal pal, Veronica, get stalked by a creepy-looking Mad Hatter-in-real-life character while the band walks around on railroad tracks all hipster-like. The track’s called “The Other Shoe.”
Check out the album’s first video, “Queen of Hearts,” for further viewing/listening. “David Comes to Life” is probably going to wind up near the top of most folks’ best-of lists this year, I’m thinking.
Damaged and menacing, The Weeknd continue to push R&B to its scariest limits.
Hip Hop/Rap Matt Carney
I was finishing up college when the then-more-mysterious R&B project The Weeknd dropped their first mixtape, “House of Balloons,” for free online.
Unfortunately for 21-year-old Canadian Abel Tesfaye (who’s credited as
singer and songwriter) not enough has changed in that time to warrant
increased praise for “Thursday,” although that’s not to say he’s produced (with the help of veteran Doc McKinney and the also-mysterious Illangelo) a bad album.
For rent: 1 bed, 1 bath, 1 serial killer. Pets OK.
Thriller Rod Lott
While the box reads "Good Neighbors," the credits read "Good
Neighbours." Regardless of spelling, the Canadian thriller from
writer/director Jacob Tierney is intelligent, suspenseful and almost
unpredictable.
Folk Matt Carney
As the common people have progressed over the last 50-plus years, so has
the topicality of their music. Since the development of genres in
popular music in the 1950s, contemporary folk music has skewed
apolitical, alluring and beautiful.
Catch two of indie’s biggest players giving live-in studio performances on ‘Later with Jools Holland.’
Wisconsin soft-rockers Bon Iver (whose live show I was lucky enough to catch in Kansas City about two months back) and Canadian chanteuse Feist both played “Later with Jools Holland” last week, and additional videos from those sessions have surfaced, now totaling six in all.
I share because they’ve released two of this year’s most terrific albums and each has an absolute all-star supporting cast behind their live shows. Watch for Colin Stetson and his big, groaning bass sax behind Justin Vernon (dude smashes on “Perth”) and mom jeans-sportin’ vocal trio Mountain Man bolstering Feist’s choruses. It’s a good thing those ladies’ voices are better than their haircuts.
My picks are “Perth” and “How Come You Never Go There,” but all six are posted below, for your perusal.
