writhaus

3.5 stars

The Smashing Pumpkins are back! Well, at least two of the members are. The Pumpkins are now a duo consisting of Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin, and Zeitgeist is the band’s first record since 2000′s Machina/The Machines of God. Zeitgeist is a guitar-driven record that rocks hard like the Pumpkins did in the days of old. Gone is any hint of the electronica the band dabbled in during the late ’90s.

Though this record rocks like the old days, in many ways, it seems as if this is the natural follow-up record to Machina. The sound of the band hasn’t changed much since that record or since the 2003 release, Mary Star of the Sea, by Zwan (a band that also featured Corgan as the frontman and Chamberlin playing drums).

Billy Corgan always has been the chief songwriter and the one who guides the Pumpkins’ sound. I was a little worried when I heard The Smashing Pumpkins were working on a new album. That’s because Jesus had been creeping into Corgan’s music, and I was worried it would get worse. Nothing ruins a good rock band like Jesus. Look at Live, for example. Thankfully, the only Christian reference is in “God and Country,” and I’m not even sure whether it’s pro-Christianity or not. (Sidenote: “God and Country” seems to steal a riff from the Sin City theme song. Listen for it.)

In fact, I’m not sure what most of Corgan’s lyrics mean on this record. But is that any different from usual? Corgan’s lyrics tend to be obtuse reveries that sound great but lack significance. I was hoping for a little bit more lyrical content on Zeitgeist, if for no other reason than the artwork on the liner notes is so provocative. The artwork includes a photo of Paris Hilton with a nuclear explosion in the background. Also, there’s the Grim Reaper as the president of the United States. The cover art is a picture of the Statue of Liberty knee-deep in water. These provocative images seem to imply lyrical substance is contained within the record. Unfortunately, there’s none.

Musically, Zeitgeist is excellent. Corgan’s voice shows virtually none of the strain you typically hear with singers his age. And this record rocks. My favorite track is “United States.” The track is nearly 10 minutes long, and it shows a lot of classic rock influence. It even has a little psychadelic interlude à la “Whole Lotta Love” and “Magic Carpet Ride.” The anthemic chorus of “Revolution!” is amazing. Every track on Zeitgeist is solid, except the last song, “Pomp and Circumstances,” which should have been a B-side.

One can hope Corgan continues to evolve The Smashing Pumpkins’ sound, but I don’t think many people will complain if he keeps producing records like this one. And here’s to Jimmy Chamberlin laying off the smack and continuing to smack the drums, as he does so well.

Scale:
0. Shoot yourself
1. Poor
2. So-So
3. Good
4. Excellent
5. Instant classic

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Ned finds out as a child that his touch can bring the dead back to life. He learns the hard way that after a minute, someone else has to die for them to continue living. Worse still, if he touches the person again, they die again.

As an adult, Ned (Lee Pace) eschews physical contact with everyone while running a pie show. A chance encounter with private investigator Emerson Cod (the always excellent Chi McBride) leads to an arrangement of resurrecting the dead, finding out who killed them, returning them to the dead, and collecting the reward. This works well until Chuck, Ned’s childhood crush, is murdered on a cruise ship, throwing a monkey wrench into Ned and Emerson’s arrangement.

Pushing Daisies is unlike anything I can remember ever seeing on television. Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, the show feels very much like a movie. The stylistic choices made in the shooting, editing, and music remind you of macabre productions such as Edward Scissorhands and The Addams Family.

The acting is terrific. Pace is sublime as Ned, trying to live in a world he cannot touch. McBride reminds me a lot of his role in Peter Jackson’s The Frighteners, always there to help, but gruffly. The omniscient narrator (Jim Dale) adds a storybook feel to the tale, too.

I’m very eager to see how this series is received when it premieres. I hope audiences warm to its fairy tale aspects and the series lasts the whole season, if not many, many more.

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Anytime you get to see the near-flawless acting of Holly Hunter, it’s a good day. And so it was that my week had a high point at 9:40 p.m. PDT as I watched the pilot episode of Saving Grace, the new TNT series.

It’s almost hard to keep up with all the Commandments Hunter’s Grace Hanadarko breaks in the opening minutes of the show. It’s only after she finishes having sex with a married man, sunning a neighbor, and heading off to work we discover she’s a cop, too. A pretty good cop from appearances. Unfortunately, it only takes her a few minutes to get into trouble, leading to an unofficial suspension. After a night of drunkenness, Grace hits and kills someone, and at last asks God for help. An angel named Earl (Leon Rippy) appears and tells her God has given her one last chance to straighten up, but that he will be there to help her stay straight, although he won’t be at her beck and call. Along the way, she works to solve the case of a missing child.

OK, I admit I am a Christian, so a premise like this really appeals to me. We all know people who have crossed lines better left uncrossed. Hunter is the perfect actress for this role, too. Cops see a lot of bad things daily. The temptation for them to cross over must be overwhelming sometimes. The exploration of this theme is long overdue.

The supporting cast has several standouts, including Laura San Giacomo who uses her medical examiner skills to deduce whether Earl is real or not. The show is shot in Alberta, Canada, which is a shame because the Oklahoma setting could have been legit. The show is shot well, though, so I suppose I shouldn’t complain too much.

In closing, this is a show I definitely want to see more of, so much so that I subscribed to the season via iTunes. Pretty much everything with Holly Hunter in it is a winner, with this being no exception. Tune your cable box to TNT on Mondays and see what all the fuss is about.

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Today I recorded a little more than ten minutes of sound at the beach. The day was clear, the advertising airplane was circling, and people were enjoying themselves.

Close your eyes, sit back, and spend some time at the beach in Santa Monica, Calif.

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4 stars

From Elton John to Billy Joel, piano rock has a long and distinguished history in rock and roll. It’s still a bit early to know whether Andrew McMahon will join their ranks, but with his Something Corporate work and side project, Jack’s Mannequin, he is well on his way.

In the summer of 2005, Jack’s Mannequin released Everything in Transit, a record that deals with what happens when you return home after being away and find everything different. The initial single, “The Mixed Tape,” has someone compiling a mixed tape for a lost love. “Bruised” touches on the feelings when you leave a lover behind. To say that loss is a theme here is an understatement.

The music blends together effortlessly, which isn’t surprising given McMahon’s past experience. His piano work is in fine form and lyrically, the album is very strong with the sounds veering from rock (“The Mixed Tape”) to beach music (“Miss Delaney”).

It’s unfortunate McMahon spent more than a year battling leukemia beginning just as the album was released. Without touring to publicize it, there was an attention deficit this release suffered undeservedly. That’s made up somewhat by the popularity of Jack’s Mannequin on movie soundtracks and theme albums.

There are tales that this year might see a follow-up released. Fans of Andrew McMahon, Jack’s Mannequin, and Something Corporate have reason to be excited if the release is as strong as this.

Scale:
0. Shoot yourself
1. Poor
2. So-So
3. Good
4. Excellent
5. Instant classic

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4.5 stars

In the United States, half the DNA for modern alternative rock comes from Seattle via grunge bands such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam. The other half comes from the other side of the country from Athens, Ga.’s, R.E.M. In the ’90s, a short(ish) ride up I-95 would lead you to Chapel Hill, N.C., the stomping ground of Archers of Loaf.

With their very raw sound, you can see the punk DNA appear. Listening through Icky Mettle, it courses through the album adding an edge that lets this album stand right beside Nevermind and not appear any the lesser. The first single, “Web in Front,” begins the album on a high note that never falters for the following 13 tracks. Tracks on the album blend together into what feels like a killer live show with songs as short as 1:19.

From down tempo “Wrong” to the relentless cacophony of “Sickfile,” Archers of Loaf build an album of parts that comes together perfectly. When the last chords of “Slowworm” fade out, you know you have completed a journey. The upside for us today is we can move right onto their next album, an EP titled vs. The Greatest of All Time.

Icky Mettle blasts its way into historical significance by being released at the dawn of alternative rock’s ascendance. You can hear the bits of punk weaving together in this album. It’s a signpost on the road to our current rock music. You deserve to give it a listen.

Scale:
0. Shoot yourself
1. Poor
2. So-So
3. Good
4. Excellent
5. Instant classic

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The Dolphin Hotel in New York City has a room on its 14th floor that only gets cleaned once a month with the door propped open. The time the door wasn’t propped open, the cleaning lady inside stabbed herself in the eyes with forks. When he hears this, John Cusack’s Mike Enslin thinks hotel manager Gerald Olin (Samuel Jackson) is trying to scare him away. Ditto when Mr. Olin hands Enslin a folder detailing all the deaths listed as natural occurrences that have happened in the room. Enslin is insistent on staying in the room, though, and a civil rights-era law requires Mr. Olin to rent the room to him. What happens from there, though, is creepy, eerie, and not just a little bit disturbing. Just how does one do battle with a maniacal room?

In the era of torture porn, it’s quite a treat to have an adaptation from horror master Stephen King make it to the screen. King, at his best, can make you squirm in your chair. He can raise the hairs on the back of your neck. He can scare you. Director Mikael HÃ¥fström has done a great job bringing the chills and scares to bear in this adaptation of King’s short story.

John Cusack is perhaps the only actor to have as high a likability factor for me as Tom Hanks. That likability is a key feature of this film because it’s mostly Cusack’s show. He makes the most of it, too. While not a comedic performance, I haven’t enjoyed him this much since High Fidelity. You feel his agony when he realizes the dangers of room 1408.

The effects and set design are solid and do a nice job of bringing the room and its world to life. I certainly would have enjoyed a little more of the history of the room. Perhaps that will come with sequels or DVD releases, though. Suffice it to say, if you are a horror fan, this is your best bet in quite a while. There are no croaking Japanese ghosts or nubile young women being hanged. We get just what we want: an ample serving of scares from a cast with above-average actors.

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As someone familiar with comic books, I knew the reputation of The Darkness: decent comic, chronically late. This is the way of Marc Silvestri’s Top Cow. Honestly, it’s a comic I never had any interest in, either. A hitman named Jackie Estacado with unlimited evil power. *Yawn* In the words of Samuel Goldwyn: “Include me out.” When I heard it was picked up for a video game, my interest increased, though. Who wouldn’t want unlimited evil power in a virtual world? With only a little trepidation, I picked up the game.

The story, I think, is key in The Darkness. It raises it above other first-person shooters where characters and motivations are clearly secondary (or sometimes tertiary). On his 21st birthday, Jackie is imbued with the power of the Darkness. All the Darkness wants in exchange is Jackie’s soul, which he is somewhat less than willing to give up. He also is being hunted by his Uncle Frankie, a mob boss who wants Jackie dead.

The Darkness not only makes Jackie tougher, but through it he can do things from summoning imp-like darklings to conjuring miniature black holes. These abilities are easy and fun to use. My personal favorite was the Alien-tailwhip-inspired Dark Claw. With it, you impale enemies and skewer scenery. It’s a lot of fun. These abilities are much more fun than the selection of guns you get and certainly make the game more interesting to play.

The graphics engine built by developer Starbreeze looks quite good. When loading is going on, there are interludes with Jackie talking to no one (or someone?). As I watched these, I realized we are finally on the cusp of having Toy Story-quality graphics. The textures on Jackie’s face look great. The only odd things are his inhumanly clear eyes. His movements are fluid and human-like. The enemies are equally well-animated. There were visual quirks, though: some odd texture seams, poorly constructed fingers on the models, and odd points of light. I don’t know whether these issues are present on all the versions or whether it’s limited to the much newer PS3. There was at least one side quest that was bugged: I was sent to kill someone. I killed him, but the quest didn’t update. That’s a much bigger problem than the graphical ones.

One design element I really appreciated was your inability to die. Get shot too many times and you fall, but the Darkness resurrects you. It’s done interestingly with flashing images that change depending on where you are in the game. Unfortunately, that leads to another issue. The game just isn’t that difficult. If it were longer, it wouldn’t matter. As it stands, this game feels as though it were designed to be sold in episodes (which wouldn’t have been a bad idea necessarily).

Overall, The Darkness is quite enjoyable, though. I will look forward to a sequel if one is made. The engine is great, the powers are fun, and the story is compelling. Starbreeze and 2K Games have a hit on their hands, especially on the game-poor PS3.

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1.5 stars

The White Stripes‘ sixth disc leaves you wondering what the hell happened. After all, Jack and Meg White’s third album, 2001′s White Blood Cells, brought the garage rock revival to the mainstream. It was the mixture of stripped-down guitar, catchy riffs, and intimate vocals that got me hooked along with everyone else, and I consider White Blood Cells to be among the top records of the decade. The White Stripes’ subsequent efforts, Elephant and Get Behind Me Satan, were not as good, but they certainly served their purposes. So why is Icky Thump so bad?

Jack and his ex-wife sound generic. I never thought this was possible, but it’s happened. “You Don’t Know What Love Is (You Just Do as You’re Told)” sounds like a shell of what the duo used to be. It’s almost as if they’re another band trying to sound like The White Stripes.

Then, there’s the guitar issue on Icky Thump. Although Jack White once was named the 17th all-time best guitarist by Rolling Stone, much of his work on Icky Thump is the musical equivalent of going to the dentist. In fact, the guitar often sounds like a dentist’s drill. It’s at its fingernails-on-the-chalkboard worst on “Catch Hell Blues.” I don’t know what White was trying to do here. Much of the album stays away from the band’s recent experimentation with other instruments such as the piano, and in general, it’s a back-to-the-basics garage record. While garage rock often is earsplitting, it tends not to be guitar solos that do it.

Other hands-over-your-ears moments come during “Rag and Bone” (when Jack White, a Michigan native living in Memphis, talks in an awful faux-southern accent) and “I’m Slowly Turning into You” (when at the song’s end there’s a crescendo to a cacophony). The lowest point Icky Thump reaches is on the only cover on the record, “Conquest.” The song is written by Corky Robbins. I’ve never heard Robbins’ version, but it has to be better than the Stripes’ version. Love him or hate him, everyone knows Jack White can’t carry much of a tune. So, why, oh, why did he have to put us through his rendition of this Spanish-style song where he wails completely off-key, “Co-o-onquest”? This is one of the worst songs I ever have heard from a good band. Add to all this the fact that Jack White has almost nothing to say in his lyrics, and you’ve got a huge disappointment.

A few songs on Icky Thump make it semi-tolerable, though. The title track and first single is pretty good. It features about the only lyric with substance: “Why don’t you kick yourself out you’re an immigrant too.” During this line, Jack White’s voice reminds me a lot of fellow Detroit native Eminem‘s voice. Some parts of “Icky Thump” remind me of “I’m Shipping up to Boston” by Dropkick Murphys, which is that street-tough punk song with bagpipes in The Departed. The best song on the record, though, is “Bone Broke.” The song just rocks, and it’s The White Stripes at their best. “Prickly Thorn, but Sweetly Worn” is an Irish-sounding song that works pretty well. “A Martyr for My Love for You” would be good if it weren’t for terrible lyrics.

In general, Icky Thump lacks charm and heart. It’s going to be hard to top as the most disappointing album of the year. There is a silver lining in this mess, though: We still have The Raconteurs.

Scale:
0. Shoot yourself
1. Poor
2. So-So
3. Good
4. Excellent
5. Instant classic

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