Before I watched the film, I was skeptical about its title. “Amour” or “love” felt far too generic: I expected a tired storyline to match its overly-ambiguous and overly-ambitious title.

But instead I was left feeling touched, moved, distressed, melancholy, somehow nostalgic and strangely serene. It was a flux of different emotions that kept washing over me in the hours, days, weeks and months that followed.

I still find myself wondering about the film, trying to come to terms with the very new, very confusing ideas and possibilities the film offered.

I was forced to truly revaluate my most basic beliefs and ideals about love and relationships, particularly how those notions may change – no, must change – in the face of death.

By: Bahar Orang

I’m pretty sure I remember Fiona Apple saying in an interview that “if you create something, you should feel like you have nothing left.”  This album feels exactly like that - like Apple has put all of the emotion and experience of the seven years since her last album into The Idler Wheel…

These songs are mostly just Apple and her piano, but this isn’t pleasantly forgettable singer-songwriter background music. This is an album to be played loudly. That’s when the quirky and difficult melodies become cathartic and Apple’s ragged and soulful voice raises hairs.

On “Valentine,” one of the many highlights, she sings “I love you” in a way that no one ever has. “I love you” becomes an accusation filled with anger, desperation and guilt. By the end of the song Apple instead sounds resigned and disappointed, describing the complicated emotions of being in a relationship.

Every song on this album was at one time my favourite, but that’s not just simply because I think they’re all great. There’s something to learn in every song about how humans work, though Apple is someone to relate to instead of someone who gives advice. There’s something powerfully reassuring about how she is able to describe the things that we all feel but have a hard time figuring out how to admit.

“How can I ask anyone to love me,” Apple asks, “When all I do is beg to be left alone?” She gets at the difficult question of how we are supposed to deal with feeling selfish in relationships when we’re supposed to be selfless. Even when she seems happy on “Anything We Want,” Apple still longs for love to be as simple and pure as when she was young. What makes this album so powerful is how Apple expresses complex emotions so directly and with a cutting wit.

After Apple was arrested earlier last year for drug possession, gossip sites turned their attention to relentlessly comment on her weight and appearance. She asked at a concert for the people incessantly writing about her to “please stop hurting my feelings, because it really fucking bothers me.” Apple was sincere, honest and vulnerable - just like her music. The Idler Wheel… is a call to feel everything.

Nolan Matthews, Senior ANDY Editor

Last year, music journalists everywhere seemed to agree that rock music had received a shot of adrenaline. “Rock Gets Loud Again, Finally” exclaimed Exclaim!, while The Atlantic declared it “The Year Punk Rock Broke Back,” in an article that celebrated the sweaty vitality of bands like Cloud Nothings, Japandroids, and Swearin’. Although each of these groups released sturdy records in 2012, New Jersey’s Titus Andronicus perhaps best channeled the visceral, life-affirming power of rock.

Local Business followed 2010’s Civil War-themed The Monitor and was criticized for lacking its predecessor’s grandiosity. In fairness, however, it’s difficult to go much bigger than an album that begins with Abraham Lincoln howling, “As a nation of free men, we will live forever, or die by suicide!” The themes of Local Business are admittedly more mundane. The dramatic catalyst of “Upon Viewing Oregon’s Landscape with the Flood of Detritus,” for instance, is a traffic jam. Yet, triumphant multi-guitar riffs and, in particular, front man Patrick Stickles’ delivery, invest such humdrum subject matter with life-or-death stakes.

This is not to suggest that Local Business is a bleak record. Titus Andronicus leavens the angst that often grates in indie rock with a vicious wit. For every cry that “Everything is inherently worthless/ And there’s nothing in the universe/ With any kind of objective purpose,” a comedic kicker is not far behind. Take, for example, a track with the dual choruses “COLD PISS!” and “HOT DEUCE!”

That song, “Still Life with Hot Deuce on Silver Platter,” contains a moment that pretty much crystallizes Local Business’ charm. In a thrilling, half-timey coda, Stickles rhymes “lesbian” and “bovine estrogen” with “mescaline” and “Mexicans.” It’s ridiculous and messy, but coming from blown speakers it sounds like a revelation. These are the ingredients of stirring rock music, in 2012 or any year.

Cooper Long


Lonerism is a peculiar album. The first time I listened through I didn’t understand it.  But there were two tracks that stood out to me - “Elephant” and “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards.” Those songs motivated me to give the album another listen, and that time it hit me a little harder than the first time. I realized the entire album is filled with catchy tunes and brilliant sound engineering. Like all great albums, I could feel that it deserved my attention.

I now think that Lonerism should be viewed as a modern triumph of the psychedelic genre. It’s not easy to create unique music from a band whose singer sounds uncannily like John Lennon and whose style is nearly identical to the musical atmosphere of when he lived, but Tame Impala have succeeded in creating their own personality.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what it is that differentiates this album from the psychedelic heyday of the late ‘60s, but it isn’t hard to distinguish it from the other bands grasping for fame by reinterpreting that era’s music. Tame Impala have breathed new life into an increasingly lifeless genre, and with renewed interest this type of music can hopefully once again capture public attention and awe.

Music isn’t what it used to be - but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Even though I’m too young to experience it, I’m sure this album will bring a wave of nostalgia to an older generation and hopefully a wave of affection for a younger one. Lonerism is a brilliant display of subtle musical genius.

Spencer Semianiw


Joey Bada$$ is only 17, but he’s already earned comparisons to Nas, AZ, and Cormega. Maybe it’s his prodigiously lyrical, polysyllabic flow, which resurrects classic mid-1990s New York boom-bap. Or maybe it’s the pitch-perfect production from the Pro Era crew, which sits perfectly at home among MF Doom and J Dilla instrumentals. The resemblance is so uncanny that he’s been accused of plagiarizing the era’s sound - in essence, a borrowed nostalgia for an unremembered decade. Pro Era themselves have disowned the stylistic comparisons: “What people fail to realize is that I’m not only into boom-bap,” Joey maintains, while Chuck Strangers claims that, “contrary to popular belief [...] I don’t just sit around making boom-bap beats all day.”

It’s hard to deny that there are a couple moments on 1999 where Joey risks blurring the line between homage and fetishism—among the most conspicuous is his 16-bar crew shout-out, à la outro to Nas’s “Represent,” over an obscure Lord Finesse beat culled from a 1997 Xperadó vinyl-only B-side. (And it doesn’t help that he’s probably the only 17-year-old reviving words like “buddha” or “mom dukes”).

But 1999 is far more of a stylistic collage than his detractors make it out to be. For one, there’s as many references to Lil B and Watch the Throne as there are to Illmatic, while tracks like “Hardknock” owe a lot to conscious rap (Joey even lists Gandhi among his influences). And his youth imbues the mixtape with a sincerity that’s most apparent on the stuttering ballad “Pennyroyal,” where he quotes “Song Cry” over a MF DOOM beat.

Those accusing Joey of derivativeness might also want to take note of his blistering wit. Whether it’s puns like “Like they gonna catch up/ketchup, fuck what you must heard/mustard” or gags like “I got them girls next to the wood like they Lightyear,” his wordplay is solid gold. Far from merely rehashing a bygone style, 1999 introduces Joey Bada$$ as one of the most exciting new voices in rap.

Michael Skinnider 


In an age obsessed with electronic and synth-oriented music, Cloud Nothings have taken a decidedly different approach. Attack on Memory is a dark record that questions our cultural ideals, creating an almost dystopic sentiment that forces the listener to confront the darkness of our world. Cloud Nothings frontman Dylan Baldi accurately describes the record as a bunch of “depressing songs.”

Attack on Memory represents a sharp contrast from the band’s previous pop sound, and the title of the album is meant to reflect this, as Baldi claims the record is an attack on people’s memory of Cloud Nothings.

With this record, Cloud Nothings has developed Nirvana’s grunge sound and added elements of Japandroids’ fast-paced melodies. This infectious combination forces listeners to embrace their youth, but also accept their lack of societal power. “Stay Useless” and “No Future/No Past” are among the record’s most powerful anthems, driving fans to pump their fists in agreement with Baldi’s words. “Fall In,” on the other hand, upsets the album’s angst by supplying an upbeat and catchy tune. This variety leaves the audience depressed with society’s bleak outlook but also hopeful for a better future.

Attack on Memory has cemented Cloud Nothings as an irrepressible force.

 

Tina Cody


Yes, the name above is correct; and yes, that is the Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The actor may not actually be an author of this little book, but he is a contributor and overall founder of the company that created the book. The company, HitRECord.org, is an online production company created in 2005 by Levitt and his brother. It's a site where artists can submit their "hit records" (which actually means stuff like drawings, songs, or stories) and other members on the site can “remix” them. On HitRECord, remixing means collaboration: editing someone’s story, adding to a piece of art or making music for a short film. If any of the work becomes profitable, the money is shared with the original artist.

HitRECord has produced short films, songs, videos and stories. Tiny Stories is a collaboration of artwork and thought-provoking haiku-like stories, with the second volume being released in 2012 and a third on its way in 2013.

Tiny Stories was made by artists that needed stories and writers that needed pictures. wirrow, who came up with the original concept for the Tiny Book of Tiny Stories, contributed his own stories and provided artwork.

The stories range from strange to poetic to sad to dark. One piece features a little girl wearing a cape and a caption that reads: "Tell no one about the cape."  A poetic story with a couple holding hands says, "Once upon a dream in a blanket of night sky you asked me to tell you a story which began with us holding hands." Another story shows two identical people floating on balloons, both figures sleeping, while the caption reads: "Life and Death both took a break, weary from their burdensome rules. Nobody lived or died that day."

This book is filled with magic on every page and is the perfect book for any writer or as a source of inspiration. Some artists on HitRECord.org have recorded songs based on the stories in the book.

Once these stories latch themselves onto your brain, begging you to expand your mind, begging to inspire you, it’s hard to let this little book go. I keep it by my bedside so that when I need it I can open to a random page and ponder over the words and pictures on the page.

The book begins with this quote, edited by wirrow and originally by Muriel Rukeyser: "The universe is not made of atoms; it's made of [tiny] stories."

Never has a quote been more true for such a perfect book.

Indie Game: The Movie is a documentary about independent video game developers, which admittedly sounds fantastically boring. But it’s not. The fact that this movie is even about video games pretty quickly becomes irrelevant. It’s instead about the pure act of creating something and the highs and lows of the flawed, crazy and isolated people who make their art their life.

In all forms of art a distinction can be drawn between the independent and the mainstream. Commercial videogames are made by huge groups of people for the purpose of appealing to as many buyers as possible, while indie games are instead made by one person or a small group. The film follows the stories of three games and the people who made them.

Tommy Refenes and Edmund McMillen develop and eventually complete a game called Super Meat Boy, and these two try to find a way to live with the drama that goes along with the enourmous expectations placed on them. Jonathan Blow is sort of like the wise war veteran who has lived through making the hugely important and popular game Braid, but he has to deal with the disillusionment that his success has brought. Phil Fish, who develops Fez throughout the movie, represents the slowing fading promise that his game will ever be finished. The range of emotions this film covers is amazing, especially considering what it’s about.

Indie Game tells a good story. Interesting and surprising stuff happens. There’s joy and there’s sorrow and because the developers essentially come to live through their games, the successes and failures are important and they are affecting. Through the personal relationship that Tommy, Edmund, Johnathan and Phil have with the videogames they make, they become something relatable. Videogames become something that matters. Even if we can’t exactly feel the extreme sacrifice and joy of the people who made these indie games, watching Indie Game comes pretty damn close.

Sleepwalk with Me was produced by the people behind This American Life, a wildly popular American public radio program that has featured some of the most interesting, powerful and humorous stories to ever be broadcast. So you’d think that if This American Life chose a story to be made into a movie it would be truly mind-blowing. Sleepwalk with Me isn’t mind blowing. It’s a modest film. Not much happens. But it’s the kind of film that might tell you a lot about your life if you give it the chance.

Sleepwalk with Me is based on true stories from the life of Mike Birbiglia, who plays Matt Pandamiglio in the film. Matt is trying to figure out what to do with his life – a situation with which everyone in school right now can probably relate. He decides to try stand-up comedy, but Matt isn’t the typical offensive and loud stand-up comedian. Instead he’s self-deprecating, witty and subtle. Some really funny stand-up scenes are part of the already funny plot of the movie, giving Sleepwalk with Me twice the comedy potential of your average film.

Then there’s the sleepwalking, which leads to some ridiculous scenes that are good for laughs. But it’s also used to give the film heart, describing the mental state of Matt who can be reserved and hard to read.

Just like the best stand-up, this film is filled with clever observations about life that give perspective on the things we all do and experience. Matt has been in a long-term relationship with his girlfriend Abby for eight years, and when the idea of marriage comes up they both have to deal with their fear of commitment. Sleepwalk with Me considers the difference between (and difficulty of) learning something about yourself that you want to change and actually changing.

The end of Sleepwalk with Me reveals a truth about why people stay in relationships, even if they’re not happy. I won’t give it away because the insight is so simple, pure and true that it alone makes the movie worth watching.

By: Nolan Matthews

Amid all the big talk about the economy during this presidential election, a mini-drama played out earlier this week over the use of a song by The National in a pro-Mitt Romney video. The decision to soundtrack a Romney video with The National is a confusing one – the band played two concerts in support of Obama not even a month ago. And even more confusingly, the song used in the Romney video, “Fake Empire,” is the same song Obama used in a video about his “signs of hope and change” that came out shortly before the 2008 election.

The National posted a scathing response to the Romney video on Youtube, saying that “every single person involved in the creation of the music you’re using is voting for President Obama.” The video, made by a group called “Ohio University Students for Romney,” was taken down the next day.

You might see this as a win for artists looking to control how their work is used and to prevent it from being used without permission. Though it’s easier than ever to take and use music without permission, it’s also easier to get caught. When I watched the Romney video, The National’s comment had around 1,500 up votes, easily making it the top comment. It worked pretty well to undermine the message of the video. The band had real power; they were able to do something about the misuse of their work, which hasn’t always been the case for artists.

In the early 1990’s, members of “riot grrrl,” a feminist punk rock movement, notoriously avoided all contact with the media to prevent the misrepresentation of their message. If anything about the riot grrrl movement was expressed, it was on their own terms.

But avoiding the media completely isn’t a great solution, and The National have shown that artists today can still control how they are being presented while still reaching many people.

A question remains, though: Why did the Ohio University Students for Romney choose “Fake Empire”? Surely there are plenty of other songs that could have been used in the video that didn’t have such a clear association with Obama. Either the Students for Romney didn’t do their homework about the history of the song they decided to use, or they are actually much smarter than they seem.

News about the Romney video didn’t start to spread until The National commented on the video, and maybe the Ohio University students chose to use “Fake Empire” precisely because it was the worst choice they could have made. Publicity about a bad decision is still publicity. They were able to take advantage of The National’s ability to point out how ridiculous it was to use their music to also draw attention to the video it was in. It seems that artists will never be able to control the use of their work, even when it appears that they do.

And maybe, if we want to really take it to the next conspiracy theory level, the whole thing was cleverly planned so that the statement of apology made by the Ohio students would reach the largest number of people. The students used the opportunity to write, “unfortunately we’ve learned that partisan divide exists on Youtube and in music as much as it does in Washington.” The apology spins the whole thing to claim that Romney is really about bringing different people together, and though he is running on the idea that he represents a change from Obama, it’s a change that can appeal to everyone.

Is a partisan divide really such a bad thing?

 

Nolan Matthews, Senior ANDY Editor

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