Massacree

I popped into the previously mentioned Mojo Sound (Tom also touched on this new store) the other day, and was a little disappointed. It's dark, and they don't seem to have much of sweet fuck-all. They particularly didn't have any Aphex Bass Xciter Big Bottom/Aural Exciter pedals (kinda awesomely, if you follow that link, you can listen to demonstration sound recordings), as featured recently in the December/January 2005 NZ Musician magazine (right, above, whatever). Which is a pity, because I'm all set to buy one of these sweet babies; at $295 they're absurdly cheap, especially if they're anywhere near as good as the review suggests.

I've recently become a much bigger fan of The Brian Jonestown Massacre (AMG page here) than previously I had been; this has largely down to having watched the quite fantastic documentary DiG! which covers the first seven or so years in the life of the BJM and their once-great-friends and rivals The Dandy Warhols (AMG page here). The film has gotten a lot of hype lately, and it's all deserved; it's really great. I'm sure it would even be a fascinating watch for someone who doesn't give two shits about the BJM and/or The Dandy Warhols, American indie music, indie music, or even just music, since it's really about human nature and the mechanics of genius. I'm especially now a huge fan of the divinely-carried Joel Gion (dark hair, centre) (you could do worse then to Google Image him), tambourine player with the BJM, who lit up the screen whenever he was on camera, and seemed to have the personality of an angel. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to fuck the guy, but I'd like to give him a hug. Trust me, you'll understand if you ever see the film.

A long time ago at a band-practice Ross once said something that has stuck with me ever since. He said "the talent of a band, and their motivation to 'succeed', are normally in directly inverse proportion to each other". Or something along those lines. DiG! is a perfect illustration of this principle, as we watch the demonstrably less-talented and less-interesting Dandys rise to a certain degree of super-stardom (in the "indie" world, anyway - it's all relative, dig) and the profoundly better Massacre sputter and tragically fizzle out. They have experienced something of a resurgence recently, though, possibly on the back of the movie; if you're interested in hearing them it appears that you can download pretty much everything they've ever recorded, and a bunch of other goodness, from their website.

Speaking of Ross, you should check out his cartoons, if you're not already. He's gone to publishing six a week, and lately they've been kicking my ass all over the place; seriously laugh out loud stuff.

And speaking of angels (I was, truly.. scroll up and you'll see), the other day I was "fortunate" enough to see The Jacket, another film for which there's been a bit of hype lately; this time, though, it's thoroughly undeserved. Pretty as it is (and it's quite pretty, I'll give it that), The Jacket is just a lame combination of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and Touched By An Angel, that offensively piss-poor TV series about the angel who manipulates divine providence to save people from themselves. Actually, that's a bit harsh - how about Cuckoo's Nest combined with Tru Calling, that more recent and equally-offensive ludicrous series about the woman who manipulates time and space to save people from themselves, and which surely only exists as a vehicle for it's "sexpot" lead, Eliza Dushku. (I say "sexpot" in that rather than make me want to fuck her, and buy all the products that are advertised in the commercial breaks, she makes something inside me spasm violently and cause pain). Also, how much of a ham is Keira Knightly? And how badly does she want to be Winona Ryder? Fucken heaps x 2, I say. Give The Jacket a wide berth, unless you feel you need proof.

Pictured is Adrian Brody, wearing a jacket. Not The Jacket, though, just a jacket.