Eddie Argos is possibly the hardest-working guy in indie rock. Best known for his post-punk revival outfit Art Brut, he also fronts Glam Chops, a band that celebrates all things sparkly and Bowie-like, and a Brit-pop supergroup called the English Travelling Wilburys, which borrows its name from the legendary group.
And now, Argos is on tour with his girlfriend Dyan as Everybody Was in the French Resistance…Now, a duo attempting to right the wrongs of pop history with songs that span the musical spectrum and include, most notably, “Billie’s Genes,” which gives a voice to the kid in Michael Jackson’s mega-hit. We caught up with Argos after his three-day drive from Seattle to Minneapolis to talk about the many projects he has in the works, including a Glam Chops film that turned out to be more Spinal Tap than Ziggy Stardust.
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The latest installment of Criterion’s budget-friendly Essential Art House series features pristine transfers of six highly influential films from the massive 50-disc Janus box set.
Volume five is the strongest to date, featuring classics like Federico Fellini’s existential character study 8 1/2 and Francois Truffaut’s freewheeling love story Jules and Jim, along with lesser known but equally impressive works: Milos Forman’s breakthrough feature, Loves of a Blonde, and Yasujiro Ozu’s visually stunning Floating Weeds. David Lean’s adaptation of Noel Coward’s Brief Encounter and Gillo Pontecorvo’s brutally audacious Kapo round out the collection.
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Starring Catherine Keener, Amanda Peet, and Oliver Platt, Walking and Talking director Nicole Holofcener’s latest work, Please Give, is an unflinching look at liberal guilt delivered with the fiery bite of early Neil LaBute.
A couple eagerly but reluctantly awaits an elderly neighbor’s death so they can expand their apartment into a dream house. The neighbor’s granddaughters (Peet as the snarky and ill-named Mary, and Rebecca Hall as her saintly sister who desperately needs to get into a little trouble) have an uneasy relationship with the pair, but form an unlikely bond with their wise-beyond-her-years 15-year-old daughter.
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As Inlets, multi-instrumentalist Sebastian Krueger blends the simple warmth of his banjo with the lush scope of orchestral pop.
His self-recorded debut LP, Inter Arbiter, comprises layered songs that benefit from repeat listens. Krueger’s experience as a hired gun for My Brightest Diamond and Feist also pays off by bringing him a slew of guest artists, including Dirty Projectors vocalist Angel Deradoorian and Beirut frontman Zach Condon, who contribute to the album’s melancholic harmonies.
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Bahman Ghobadi’s heartfelt new film charts the adventures of Iranian youths struggling to put on an indie-rock show within a repressive regime that has outlawed Western music.
The strict Islamic law of Tehran starkly contrasts with the boundless energy of these twentysomething rebel musicians. Gathering in clandestine underground spaces, they share new songs and dreams of escaping to London, where they’ve managed to book a gig. However, obtaining passports and visas proves more difficult and expensive than expected, and their wills are continuously tested. Despite the intense subject matter, the film pulses with dynamic DIY music and a biting, punk-infused sense of humor.
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The Tribeca Film Festival kicked off yesterday with the premiere of the fourth and supposedly final Shrek movie. But you don’t care about that. You want to hear about the films that you’ll actually want to see. With nearly 200 of them screening, there is a dizzying array of choices sure to send any serious movie buff into an existential panic. It would be impossible to catch everything, but we’ve sussed out the five flicks you definitely don’t want to miss. Check them out and watch accompanying trailers after the jump.
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Writer/director Maren Ade’s excellent Everyone Else is a well-observed depiction of a realistic relationship that skillfully combines awkwardness, sadness, and ambivalence with passion and joy.
The German import opens during a summer getaway at boyfriend Chris’ family vacation house. His sister has brought her kids, and at first glance, it’s almost a European approximation of a Norman Rockwell portrait. However, while lounging by the pool, his girlfriend teaches Chris’ niece phrases like “I detest you” that the child embraces with relish, hinting at darker things to come.
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Classical TV brings “performance on demand” to a new level, taking high-brow arts events out of stuffy halls and streaming them directly to your computer.
The site’s extensive collection includes hundreds of world-class performances, and runs the gamut from the latest Met in HD offerings to a rare Diana Krall concert in Paris. Many of the offerings are even free to watch, including Johnny Cash’s amazing set at the 1994 Montreux Jazz Festival. An accompanying blog provides commentary and keeps viewers up to date with cultural happenings.
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Evelyn Evelyn (Amanda Palmer’s latest project with virtuoso multi-instrumentalist Jason Webley) has been gathering a lot of buzz in the blogosphere due to a slew of high profile guest artists, including 17-year-old Frances Bean Cobain, My Chemical Romance’s Gerard Way, and Tegan and Sara, as well as the controversy surrounding the mythical twins who supposedly wrote the music. What hasn’t been tweeted about enough is just how good this groundbreaking concept album is.
From the opening title track, we’re drawn into the escapist dreams of conjoined twins Eve and Lyn who wonder “should we be firemen, can we be astronauts” as they debate leaving the freak show that has become their lives. Throughout the hour-long album, we grow attached (bad pun, we know) to the girls as we learn about their family and friends, including a similarly paired set of elephants, delightfully named Kimba and Bimba. The music is equally lush and eclectic, with touches of folk and vaudeville blended with a healthy dose of indie charm that climaxes with the ’80s-infused anthem “My Space.”
We caught up with Palmer and Webley to talk music, find out about their upcoming Evelyn Evelyn tour, and get to the bottom of who really wrote these great songs.
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Atom Egoyan’s new thriller explores themes of jealousy and passion with a European sensibility that puts a smart spin on the love-triangle trope.
Based on 2004 French film Nathalie, Erin Cressida Wilson’s subversive script follows a woman (Julianne Moore) as she hires a prostitute (Amanda Seyfried) to test the fidelity of her husband (Liam Neeson). As their encounters grow more intense, the lines between reality and fantasy blur and unexpected desires are awakened in all three. Universally strong performances anchor a wild story that ventures into the uncharted depths of human sexuality.
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