Just when you thought that the mere idea of filming a few scenes for your music video in a cemetery was just unbearably cliche, Nashville-based rawk quartet, Idle Bloom come along to show you that it can be done in a way that is still original and cool! What is even going on in this frenetically edited video? I have no idea, really. All I know is that it matches the energy and carefree sense of fun and adventure that comes through in this exciting little song that I just want to hear over and over.
Aurally, Idle Bloom embrace a simply transcendent blend of melody and discord distinctive to musical icons such as Husker Du and The Pixies — for those of you over 40 — but which folks with a more up-to-the-minute grasp of what The Kids are listening to say should appeal to fans of groups like Dilly Dally, a band that we also find to be pretty groovy!
Idle Bloom members include Olivia (vocals & guitars), Callan (vocals & guitar), Katie (bass), and Weston (drums). The band recently completed their debut EP, Some Paranoia, which is out now via hometown label Theory Eight Records, and available wherever fine music is procured. Like them on the FaceBook at This Link. Enjoy!
Ever since The Beatles crossed the pond in the early ’60s, the UK has been a fertile breeding ground for innovative rock music. Dinosaur Pile Up is Rock/Pop UK-based band I just heard about and they impress me as being pretty groovy. While their press compares DPU’s music to “an early New Found Glory,” I can’t really speak to that, since New Found Glory is one of those bands that’s completely flown under my radar. So, you be the judge on that score.
This frenetically edited, performance clip-based video (shot in luxurious black and white) is for the song, “Peninsula”— the first single from the band’s just-released EP of that same name. Drawing from my deep well of classic influences, I’d say Dinosaur Pile Up capture the short and sweet, hit-and-run songcraft of The Buzzcocks or Husker Du while harnessing those adhesive, razor sharp guitar riffs that the early ’90s wave of Grunge bands took to the bank. And that’s a winning combination any way you look at it.
Dinosaur Pile Up’s full length album, Nature Nurture will hit the US in early 2014. Enjoy!
I saw Color Me Obsessed, The Replacements’ documentary, last night and really enjoyed it. It was a good-sized crowd in the theater, though probably with the narrowest age range you would ever see at a movie (from about age 45 – 55 ). First and foremost, Color Me Obsessed is a movie for fans only. Each story about a particularly awesome or atrocious gig was met with knowing nods and laughs from the crowd. I can’t imagine anyone who doesn’t know about the band enjoying it. And, with no music from them included in the film (more about that later), it doesn’t expose them to a new audience.
The film offers a great chronology of The Replacements and features lots of back-story on what was happening in the Minneapolis punk scene of the time. Interestingly, it has plenty of interviews with members of Husker Du (though not Bob Mould), but not with the other big TwinTone band of the time, Soul Asylum. It does offer profiles of the surviving band members with an emphasis on the late Bob Stinson, who Director Gorman Bechard sees as the core and spirit of the band.
All of the talking heads (including Tommy Ramone, Peter Zaremba, Jessie Malin, John Rzeznik and Steve Albini, among numerous others) are clearly hardcore fans. It’s interesting that almost none of them are upset that Stinson left/got fired from the band because of alcohol abuse, showing a lack of concern about his health, but others felt that it represented the band “selling out,” which pissed them off. This sentiment contrasts with how much affinity these fans/friends had with the members because they were “regular guys.” In some ways the film (inadvertently) shines a bright light on the indie scene. Everyone’s favorite record was the one they heard first (Let it Be being the exception for some of those there at the beginning), which tends to reveal how hardcore fans can have problems changing with the band.
The central question is whether The Replacements made records their fans loved because they were fuck ups (and we saw their zenith) or whether, had they not been fuck ups, they would have reached a wider audience. The answer is, of course, unknowable, but after the first few laughs of them doing something stupid to either just be assholes or sabotage their career, it just gets sad. Plenty of bands cleaned their act up and made great records. Why not them?
Director Gorman Bechard was present at the screening to talk about the film and why he decided to not use any of the band’s music, etc. As he explained it, he likened it to faith. Bechard proposed that if people can believe in god by only reading about him, then they could do the same about The Replacements – and he believed in The Replacements. I reasoned that there were licensing issues as well, though you would think that, since the movie was a love letter to the band, the record companies would have licensed the music without a problem. NBC letting them show the SNL performances; well, that’s probably a different story. One thing giving credence to his explanation is that the film used very few pictures of the band as well (and most of those were at the very end). I’m assuming those would be plentiful and inexpensive. The bottom line is that if you are a fan of the band you’ll like the movie.
Rating: 4 Out of 5 Stars. To find a screening of Color Me Obsessed in your area visit This Link.
