Am I Hard Enough?

If you're a Rolling Stones fan, I have a CD you should really hear. It's an album of Stones covers I picked up at The Warehouse the other day [for $9.99]. It's called Songs of Rolling Stones All Blues'd Up!. Here's the track list:

Luther Allison - You Can't Always Get What You Want
Johnny Copeland - Tumbling Dice
Junior Wells - (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
Otis Clay - Wild Horses
Taj Mahal - Honky Tonk Women
Alvin "Youngblood" Hart - Sway
Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown - Ventilator Blues
The Holmes Brothers - Beast Of Burden
Lucky Peterson - Under My Thumb
Bobby Womack - It's All Over Now
Larry McCray - Midnight Rambler
Joe Louis Walker - Heart Of Stone
Alvin "Youngblood" Hart - Moonlight Mile

Most of the versions are great covers [and hours can be spent discussing the merits of a good cover version]; some are even superb. In addition, rather agreeably, the album should really be called Songs of Rolling Stones All Blues'd, Soul'd and Gospel'd Up! because many of the artists totally nail the innate gospel-soul component of the Stones' [approximately] 70's material and bang out fully-powered screamin'-soul versions which generally kick yo' ass.

Other aspects which add greatly to the appeal of this CD:
1] No appearance of Robert Cray, in any form, anywhere
2] For that matter, no Albert King, B.B. King, or Johnny and/or Edgar Winters
3] Much muscular bass, Hammond organ, squelching guitar and ace drumming... and all nicely produced and recorded - no shitty cheap Warehouse CD styles here
4] Charmingly odd graphics on cover [see image]

In the same series there is also a set of Led Zeppelin covers which I picked up - it didn't make such a strong impression initially - and one of Eric Clapton material, which I sniffily passed on; also available, apparently, are discs of Janis Joplin and Bob Dylan tunes.

Smoke and Mirrors: Eternal Sunshine of the Lame Plot

[WARNING: Spoilers]

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is the latest film offering from the team that brought you Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, et al. It features Jim Carey, apparently hired for his ability to make cute faces, Kirsten Dunst, apparently hired for her proclivity to jump on beds in her skimpies, and Kate Winslet, possibly hired for her ability to behave badly and speak in a passable Sri Lankan accent while acting in film set in New Jersey. The film sucks, too.

Generally the pathology of relationships are interesting to me; here it is interesting enough - when you're trying for a second time, when you've already had a crack at it and failed, how you deal with knowing all the things that you're going to start feeling at that point when "the honeymoon's over" and the cracks start appearing - the true test of a relationship, right? But I always have the same goddamn problems with the films that these people make. The idea on paper for this one is fine - explore ideas of destiny, predetermination vs. freewill; does history, given every opportunity, really repeat itself? Plus they get to deploy the narrative device of the general public being able to book an appointment for a selective memory erasing procedure about as casually as having a couple of teeth filled.

As per usual this film doesn't go deep enough - ok, it seems Mary [Dunst] can't help throwing herself at Howard again - it's written in the stars or her DNA or something. The assumption is she could keep undergoing the procedure and still find him irresistable - this is one angle on the issue. Joel [Carey] and Clementine [Winslet] both undergo the procedure - on their memories of each other - but meet and hook up again; only a twist lets them discover how much they hated each other the first time around.

So effectively they wind up where any other couple do who are giving it a second try (or third or fourth or whatever) except this time they're missing the links between where they are now (and where they were originally) and where they ended up. This is the other angle - but all of the interesting things about their situation are voided by the storyline. And when you really think about it, there's no resolution to this narrative trap. They could either have been like everyone else and know how it went wrong and have a chance at avoiding it a second time; or be like Mary, have no idea about anything, and start from a clean slate. Either way, there's no film.

No film, just smoke and mirrors to distract you from the fact. Eternal Sunshine... is cinematically interesting, mostly, if quite cliched now - I'm a bit over this shit, I suspect. And because I can't accept their story resolutions I can't suspend my disbelief and as always, I finish the film not really caring about the participants at all. It may be technically sound, but ultimately unmoving and a bit dull.

Unconsequential. And that's the most brutal assessment I can make of a film. So I'm left wondering... why do people really like these films? 'Cos they do - a lot.

Pumice's Raft

The other night at Pumice's Raft CD release gig, while he was setting up for to play, I was talking to someone - an initiate if you will - who asked me what it was that Pumice 'did'. I had to think about it for a moment and then came up with drifting, shuddering gospel-folk-music.

Upon reflection, that kinda nails it perfectly. It's very interactive; you have to engage with it and when you do, you'll have a hard job to disengage again. Pumice hangs out a big analogue carrot which you follow, transfixed, teetering on the edge of something that you have a vague feeling might be going to be really important.. you're transcending.. pay attention; Pumice is goan take your head a-rambling over those hills over there in his little wheezing broke-ass tape-loop and concertina-powered flying machine.

Raft has all the essence of Pumice live, distilled through an 8-track recorder onto a CD-sized listening session. Pumice has worked very hard and very carefully for quite a long time to make some good Pumice here; the good news is he's pulled it off. For the sake of reference: it recalls the absolute glorious best of Alistair Galbraith's psych-dirge but tempered with the kind of occasional instrumental dexterity that you might find on a Sun City Girls record. I'm going to go out on a limb by saying that Raft is easily the best thing I've heard by Pumice; it is highly recommended.

[image of Pumice courtesy of Arc Cafe's possibly-slightly-out-of-date Pumice page]

The Audio Foundation

According to its homepage The Audio Foundation is

a networking and resource database hub for the representation, facilitation, support and promotion of innovative and experimental artistic development in NZ Audio Culture.

It's a pretty neat site, put together by Zoe Drayton, and it has a gig guide outlining up-and-coming events such as Alt.Music.3 at Artspace.

An artist index is also included on the site; it's fairly sparse now as the site is new, but this promises to develop into a valuable resource.

On a related note, two interesting gigs in the next few days here in Wellington:

Friday night/City Gallery/9pm to 12pm/free: Dino Karlis [HDU], Bevan Smith [Signer] and Andrew Thomas.

we'll be playing some live instruments and making our laptops make some noises too.

Saturday night/Adam Art Gallery/7pm/$10,$8 unwaged,$5 Friends and Members: New Voices A collaboration between Rosy Parlane, Richard Francis and Campbell Kneale.

This event brings together three of New Zealand's most exciting and dynamic sound artists. All three have been actively creating phonic works for the past decade and have participated in sound festivals and exhibitions throughout Europe, the U.S.A and Australia. This event represents an ideal opportunity to witness collaboration between three of the most innovative sound artists currently practicing in New Zealand.