Venuszine: Recent Stories

Tokyo Police Club

2008-05-06T13:43:13-05:00

The debut album that fails to live up to the promise of preceding EPs is a modern music cliché regrettably grounded in reality. Not to say that Elephant Shell, Tokyo Police Club's longer-than-long awaited follow-up to their precocious EPs, is a catastrophe; in fact, it's nothing short of polished indie fare.

But ay, there's the rub.

It wasn't quite hype, but the Canadian quartet — their name's a misnomer among the ranks of Sweden's I'm From Barcelona and Australia's Architecture in Helsinki — had a lot to live up to. The songs on A Lesson in Crime (2006) and Smith (2007) mostly clocked in under the three-minute mark and held the youthful abandon manifested in the band members, who were orphans merged from prior disbanded lineups. Short and punchy, each track raced ahead without bothering to look back.

Elephant Shell also leaves behind something to desire, though doubtfully with the same intent. There's nothing really wrong with songs like "In a Cave" and "Graves," but they sound bland and uninspired when compared to A Lesson in Crime's winsome dissonance and imperfections. It's perplexing, as if all the popularity and touring smoothed over the band's rough edges during recording.

First single "Your English Is Good" was released nearly a year before the album, and it shows: Dave Monks sneers the title lyrics, his distinctive nasal vocals stretching to hoarse limits over Josh Hook's melodic guitar riffs. "Oh, give us your vote… if you know what's good for you!" the band taunts. It's a cutting little song, equal parts willful and bewildered, that hints at what could have been.

Did the band actively try to sound like everyone else, or did some suit at Saddle Creek stick the record through an easy listening, "Shins"-type ProTools filter, all the while rubbing his hands and conniving to squeeze some extra dollars out of the mainstream? Whatever happened — it's too bad. Elephant Shell won't change your life, but hopefully it'll convince Tokyo Police Club to change labels.

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Tokyo Police Club's website

Four Tet

2008-05-08T13:16:48-05:00

05/09/08 London, England @ Rockfeedback
05/17/08 Minehead, England @ Butlins Holiday Centre
05/24/08 London, England @ The End
05/31/08 San Francisco, CA @ Mezzanine
06/04/08 Portland OR @ Holocene
06/06/08 Brooklyn, NY @ Studio B
06/12/08 Barcelona, Spain @ Daydream Festival
06/15/08 Athens, Greece @ Synch Festival
07/22/08 New York, NY @ River to River Festival
08/01/08 Olganitz, Germany @ Nachtdigital Festival
08/08/08 London, England @ Underage Festival

For more information, visit the official website.

A Hawk & A Hacksaw

2008-05-08T13:04:24-05:00

05/09/08 Belfast, Northern Ireland @ Belfast Arts Festival
05/10 /08Cork, Ireland @ Cyprus Avenue
05/11/08 Dublin, Ireland @ Crawdaddy
05/12/08 Aberdeen, Scotland @ The Tunnels
05/13/08 Glasgow, Scotland @ The Arches
05/14/08 Leeds, England @ Hi Fi Club
05/15/08 Bristol, England @ Thekla
05/16/08 Minehead, England @ Butlins Holiday Centre
06/18/08 Saragossa, Spain @ Saragossa Expo
07/12/08 Winnipeg, Manitoba @ Winnipeg Folk Festival
07/13/08 Winnipeg, Manitoba @ Winnipeg Folk Festival
07/14/08 New York, NY @ Le Poisson Rouge
07/15/08 Montreal, Quebec @ Club Lambi
07/16/08 Toronto, Ontario @ El Mocambo
07/18/08 Madison, WI @ Memorial Union Terrace at University of Wisconsin
07/19/08 Chicago, IL @ Pitchfork Music Festival
07/20/08 Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex
07/21/08 San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
07/23/08 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
07/24/08 Seattle, WA @ The Tractor Tavern
07/26/08 Calgary, Alberta @ Calgary Folk Music Festival
07/27/08 Calgary, Alberta @ Calgary Folk Music Festival
09/12/08 Salisbury, England @ End of the Road Festival

For more information, visit the official website.

Iron and Wine

2008-05-08T12:53:58-05:00

05/09/08 Cork, Ireland @ Savoy Theatre
05/10/08 Galway, Ireland @ Black Box
05/11/08 Dublin, Ireland @ Olympia Theatre
05/12/08 Glasgow, Scotland @ ABC
05/13/08 Manchester, England @ Ritz
05/14/08 Sheffield, England @ Leadmill
05/15/08 Brighton, England @ Great Escape Festival
05/16/08 London, England @ Forum
05/17/08 Minehead, England @ Butlins Holiday Centre
05/18/08 Minehead, England @ Butlins Holiday Centre
06/11/08 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
06/12/08 Davenport, IA @ Capitol Theater
06/13/08 St. Louis, MO @ Pageant Theater
06/14/08 Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo
06/15/08 Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
07/04/08 Rothbury, MI @ Rothbury Festival
08/06/09 Oslo, Norway @ Øya Festival

For more information, visit Iron and Wine's official website.

Flight of the Conchords prove they've got game in NYC

2008-05-08T10:31:23-05:00

“It’s not TV. It’s HBO,” quotes the channel’s ad campaign. Flight of the Conchords is one of the latest post–Sex and the City gems keeping HBO on a pedestal above cable television.

If you've been living under a pop culture rock and the names Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie don’t ring a bell, they are the latest stars to ride the “acousticomedic” wave — all the way from New Zealand. Flight of the Conchords (the band with the TV show of the same name) are the Down-Under equivalent to Adam Sandler or Tenacious D, but with their own brand of expertly playful parody set to a laid-back rock vibe.

The live adaptation resulted in a surreal experience. They don’t have fans — they have a cult-like following. Lines were long, scalpers rampant, and enthusiasm high. One fifth-row fan brought a large hot dog–shaped poster with the band’s name in bold — the scene one might expect of teeny-boppers at Hannah Montana live.

Early buzz hatched with the Grammy Award–winning Distant Future EP (Sub Pop), released in August 2007. Now it has taken flight. Their full-length, self-titled debut landed April 22, 2008, to critical acclaim. Fans are responding to the tour in support of the release: Rumors fly that the two scheduled NY stops sold out in three minutes.

Clement and McKenzie's “mockumentary” TV show follows the foreigners as they struggle in New York City; however, the pair seemed right at home on the Town Hall stage on, May 6, 2008. The dynamic duo cracked NY jokes and kicked off the show with a Manhattan-infused "Inner City Pressure." Bret (pronounced “Brit”) jammed on his infamous silver “agro crag” guitar, while Jemaine busted chords on his keytar augmenting the new-wave Pet Shop Boys vibe.

On the show, the boys are renowned for their lack of game; however, they presented themselves with confidence atop their tall stools. The second song in the set, "The Most Beautiful Girl (In The Room)," wooed the ladies with compliments (“You could be a part time model. But you'd probably still have to keep your normal job.”). “A Kiss Is Not a Contract" was prefaced with a request for a kissing booth–style line by the exits. And "Ladies of the World," one of the last songs, closed the deal as Jemaine and Bret capitalized on the smooth '70s and '80s R&B they’ve got down so well.

Missing from the TV version, the tag team bantered ad lib with each other and the audience. Girls shrieked in lust, while fans hollered titles of songs. "Hiphopoptamus Vs. Rhymenoceros," a frequent request, finally played after a worthwhile wait. The song reached new heights in front of the raucous audience as revved beats reinforced the boys’ surprisingly good rapping (“My rhymes are so potent that in this small segment, I made all of the ladies in the first two rows pregnant”). "Mutha'uckas" also showcased their annunciating skills with curseless rap and electro-synth bass lines.

The musicians differentiate themselves from pop-culture comics with lyrics that employ childlike wonder rather than childish or vulgar humor. Instead, they opt for subtlety. They can be serious: They make political commentary, but it will make you laugh (“Redheads not warheads. Blondes not bombs. We're talkin' about brunettes not fighter jets.”).

The boys supplemented “Not Crying” with blue “sad” lighting and reverb that amplified the passionate vocal crescendos. "Business Time," an all-time favorite, followed immediately with Barry White smoothness. “Bret You’ve Got it Going on” was a show stopper, along with “Albie” — a song complete with multiple voices. It was evident that each song was meant to be seen live. Their signature is the awkward pause; nothing is funnier than saying nothing and staying expressionless.

This delicate balance of awkward charm and comedic poetry, combined with a multimedia launch has resulted in nothing less than a “Kiwicentric phenom.” Their TV show proved that their charm lies in the visual delivery; their live act verified that it is flawless. Foreigners talk funny. Hilarity ensues.

Carly Fisher loves doing laundry to Scott 4

2008-04-30T21:52:53-05:00

Perhaps it isn't even laundry. Maybe it's doing dishes or writing out checks that are inevitably going to bounce. Whatever the bane of your existence may be, Scott Walker's crooning vocals on his Scott 4 album somehow make the experience a whole lot better. Don't believe me? Try doing your laundry in complete silence and then surprise yourself by slipping a little Scott Walker in. I promise you won't be disappointed!

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Available at Amazon.com

Carly Fisher is a Venus Zine editorial intern.

The Acorn lets loose in New York

2008-05-07T20:02:23-05:00

I’d first heard mention of the Acorn while at SXSW this spring. A Canadian friend insisted it was one of THE bands worth seeing at the festival. I failed to follow his advice while in Austin, but got my second chance on May 6, 2008, when the Ottawa, Ontario-based group made its way back down to NYC to play a few shows. Thank god for second chances.

The Mercury Lounge on a Tuesday night was not quite hoppin’, at least not as much as it would be later that night when veteran Sub Pop artists Love As Laughter took the stage. The modest openers that they were, the Acorn’s singer Rolf Klausener thanked everyone for coming out on a Tuesday when they could be catching a discount movie or something. “You fucking skipped Iron Man to see us pussies,” he gratefully exclaimed, quickly apologizing as only a polite Canadian would for his foul mouth. (Sorry Rolf, I know you didn’t want your mom to know, but we’re New Yorkers — you were speaking our language there! Fuggetaboutit!)

For all its delicacies, like acoustic instruments including ukuleles and wood blocks, the frenetic energy of the Acorn’s melodies still got the attentive audience moving. It was hard to not let the toes tap, the body sway, and the head bob when the band’s two drummers, Jeffrey Malecki and Shaun Weadick, built up the rhythm of songs like “Crooked Legs,” or when all of the band members clapped their hands in unison to the closing number. Sometimes bands have multiple drummers just to impress, but the Acorn uses it to full effect, creating a danceable, occasionally tribal beat that makes the songs sound like the band is rattling apart at the seams. I hate to make lazy other–Canadian–band comparisons and bring up the Arcade Fire, but both bands do share a playful energy, especially when all members start crooning along with un-miked “oohs” and “aahhs.” It gets under your skin.

On songs when the band slowed things down, the percussion sounded more like the clatter of wind through the screen door or branches tap-tapping on the window pane. Combined with the quaint melodies of the ukulele, it brought to mind the avant folk of Lullaby for the Working Class or any number of Saddle Creek Records bands. It seemed strange that a band from the Great White North could make music so sunny, so Americana. Then again, Neil Young was from Canada.

At times the tempo of the songs took on the catchy breeziness of the Sea and Cake. Other times , bassist Jeff Debutte backed up Klausener’s lead vocals with high harmonies; the Garfunkel to his Simon. Keiko Devaux, the band’s resident lady, took the helm at the keyboards for most of the set, taking turns also with maracas and backup vocals while guitarist Howie Tsui multitasked with an e-bow in one hand and a uke strapped to his shoulder. Live, the Acorn was really at its best when the pace picked up and every member of the six-piece band was letting loose on their respective instrument, which is exactly how they wrapped up their set at the Mercury Lounge — heads thrown back, mouths wide open, singing loud, music jubilant.

Ingrid Michaelson

2007-11-07T12:47:33-06:00

05/06/08 Nashville, Tennessee @ The Belcourt Theatre
05/07/08 Nashville, Tennessee @ The Belcourt Theatre
05/15/08 Boston, Massachusetts @ Berklee Performance Center
05/18/08 Rochester, New York @ Lilac Festival 2008
05/28/08 Columbia, Maryland @ Merriweather Post Pavillion (supporting Sheryl Crow & Ray LaMontagne)
05/29/08 Northampton, Massachusetts @ Calvin Theatre (supporting Ray LaMontagne)
05/31/08 Hunter, New York @ WDST Mountain Jam Festival
06/01/08 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania @ The Fillmore at Theatre of Living Arts
06/02/08 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania @ Mr. Smalls Theatre
06/03/08 Columbus, Ohio @ Newport Music Hall
06/04/08 Louisville, Kentucky @ Headliners
06/05/08 Chicago, Illinois @ Park West
06/06/08 Minneapolis, Minnesota @ Fine Line Music Cafe
06/07/08 Madison, Wisconsin @ Barrymore Theater
06/09/08 Nashville, Tennessee @ Exit/In
06/10/08 Atlanta, Georgia @ Variety Playhouse
06/11/08 Orlando, Florida @ The Social
06/12/08 St. Petersburg, Florida @ State Theatre
06/13/08 Jacksonville, Florida @ Jack Rabbits
06/14/08 Birmingham, Alabama @ City States Festival
06/16/08 Greenville, South Carolina @ Handlebar
06/17/08 Carrboro, North Carolina @ Cat's Cradle
06/18/08 Richmond, Virginia @ Toad's Place
06/19/08 Towson, Maryland @ Recher Theatre
06/20/08 New York, New York @ Terminal 5
06/22/08 San Francisco, California @ Golden Gate Festival
06/23/08 Anaheim, California @ House of Blues
06/24/08 Los Angeles, California @ El Rey Theatre
06/25/08 San Diego, California @ House of Blues
06/26/08 Tucson, Arizona @ Club Congress
06/28/08 Salt Lake City, Utah @ Avalon Theater
07/01/08 Kansas City, Missouri @ The Beaumont Club
07/02/08 St. Louis, Missouri @ The Pageant
07/03/08 Milwaukee, Wisconsin @ Summerfest
07/06/08 Rothbury, Michigan @ Rothbury Festival
07/13/08 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania @ WXPN Festival
07/20/08 Denver, Colorado @ Mile High Festival
07/22/08 Omaha, Nebraska @ Qwest Center (supporting Dave Matthews Band)
07/25/08 Noblesville, Indiana @ Verizon Wireless Music Center (supporting Dave Matthews Band)
07/26/08 Noblesville, Indiana @ Verizon Wireless Music Center (supporting Dave Matthews Band)
07/29/08 Columbus, Ohio @ Crew Stadium (supporting Dave Matthews Band)
07/22/08 Omaha, Nebraska @ Qwest Center
07/25/08 Noblesville, Indiana @ Verizon Wireless Music Center
07/26/08 Noblesville, Indiana @ Verizon Wireless Music Center
07/29/08 Columbus, Ohio @ Crew Stadium
07/30/08 Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio @ Blossom Music Center
08/23/08 Staten Island, New York @ Edgewater Festival
08/26/08 Binghamton, New York @ Anderson Center for the Performing Arts
08/31/08 Seattle, Washington @ Bumbershoot Festival
09/26/08 Austin, Texas @ Austin City Limits Festival

For more information, visit MySpace.

French Kicks

2008-03-10T12:12:46-05:00

05/15/08 Portland, Oregon @ Doug Fir
05/16/08 Seattle, Washington @ Chop Suey
05/18/08 San Francisco, California @ The Independent
05/19/08 Sacramento, California @ Blue Lamp
05/22/08 Los Angeles, California @ The Echo
05/23/08 San Diego, California @ Casbah
05/28/08 Cleveland, Ohio @ Grog Shop
05/29/08 Chicago, Illinois @ Double Door
05/30/08 Madison, Wisconsin @ High Noon
05/31/08 Minneapolis, Minnesota @ 400 Club
06/02/08 Kansas City, Missouri @ Record Bar
06/04/08 Dallas, Texas @ Granada Theater
06/05/08 Austin, Texas @ Mohawk
06/06/08 Houston, Texas @ Walterâ€™s on Washington
06/07/08 Baton Rouge, Louisiana @ Spanish Moon
06/09/08 Birmingham, Alabama @ The Bottletree
06/10/08 Nashville, Tennessee @ Exit/In
06/11/08 Columbus, Ohio @ The Basement

For more information, visit French Kicks.

Spoon

2008-02-27T16:15:02-06:00

06/13/08 Troutdale, Oregon @ Edgefield Amphitheater (KNRK Pet Aid 2008)
07/15/08 Brooklyn, New York @ Prospect Park
07/19/08 Denver, Colorado @ Mile High Festival
07/20/08 Chicago, IL @ Pitchfork Music Festival
09/20/08 Hollywood, California @ Hollywood Bowl
09/22/08 San Francisco, California @ Filmore Theatre
09/23/08 San Francisco, California @ Filmore Theatre

09/24/08 San Francisco, California @ Filmore Theatre

For more information, visit Spoon.

Grizzly Bear

2008-05-07T12:46:52-05:00

06/25/08 Calgary, Alberta @ Sled Island Festival at Grace Church
07/31/08 Nashville, Tennessee @ Mercy Lounge
08/01/08 Chicago, Illinois @ Grant Park/ Lollapalooza
08/02/08 Louisville, Kentucky @ 930 Listening Room
08/03/08 Noblesville, Indiana @ Verizon Wireless Music Center w/ Radiohead
08/04/08 Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio @ Blossom Music Center w/ Radiohead
08/06/08 Montréal, Quebec @ Parc Jean Drapeau w/ Radiohead
08/07/08 Northampton, Massachusetts @ Calvin Theatrew/ New Pornographers
08/08/08 Jersey City, New Jersey @ All Points West Music & Arts Festival
08/11/08 Washington, DC @ Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
08/12/08 Camden, New Jersey @ Susquehanna Bank Center w/ Radiohead
08/13/08 Mansfield, Massachusetts @ Tweeter Center for the Performing Arts w/ Radiohead
08/14/08 Boston, Massachusetts @ Museum of Fine Arts Calderwood Courtyard (outdoor)
08/15/08 Toronto, Ontario @ Molson Amphitheatre w/ Radiohead

For more info, visit grizzlybear

Band of the Month: Kill Krinkle Club

2008-05-07T11:49:51-05:00

WHO IT IS
Irish-Swedish pairing of Justin Commins (vocals, guitar, keyboards, sampler, chime bars, glockenspiel, banjo, drums, accordion, beats) and Elina Bergman (vocals, piano, melodica, toy keyboards, clarinet, glockenspiel).

LOCATION
Dublin, Ireland

FILE UNDER
quirky but mellow indie electronica

IN A NUTSHELL
Justin Commins and Elina Bergman originally met by chance a few years ago in a Dublin bar. Commins had luckily won a coin toss that got him off his night job, thus allowing him to meet his future band mate. His other band at the time, the Star Department, called it quits just as Kill Krinkle Club began to take its shape as a side project that soon, as Bergman puts it, “took over everything and everyone.” “We’ve always talked of playing together,” says Bergman, the Swedish half of the duo. “So it came about quite naturally once his last band started to disband.”

Despite a violent-sounding moniker, Kill Krinkle Club’s sound consists of mellow beats. When asked about their name, Bergman insists that they didn’t chose it; instead, it chose them. So maybe the real question is, who is Krinkle and why do they seek his demise? Is he an old enemy? A childhood fear? Someone’s ridiculous drunk uncle? According to Commins, he’s essentially all of that and more. “[Krinkle] is something of a fairytale character. A mental phantom that stops people from fulfilling their potential,” he says. “An enigma wrapped in toilet paper and tinfoil. That little voice in your head. We need to kill that guy.”

Bergman describes Kill Krinkle’s music as “child-Japanese-electro-pop-with-Russian influences,” a strange combination of adjectives that somehow works. The duo cites several musical influences, ranging from My Bloody Valentine to Animal Collective to the Beatles. Overall, Commins says that they’re inspired by “anyone who’s doing what they do and loves doing it.” Kill Krinkle Club manages to create music that’s both eerie and sweet, laced with a quirky use of instruments (like the glockenspiel and chime bars) and throwing in experimental sounds. Songs like “Hurry or the Wind Will Catch Us” and “Ballrooms Waiting for Us” from their self-released The Bloody Murder of Krinkle EP, are soothing and synth-based, with Commins leading vocally. “Split Tears” takes a turn for the strange yet sad; “Music Box” hides whispery vocals under a swirl of beeps and keyboard notes. When Bergman showcases her singing in songs like “Lakes,” it’s slightly reminiscent of Blonde Redhead’s Kazu Makino’s melodic yowl.

The band’s live shows, which they describe as “David Lynch meets Haruki Murakami,” are probably as interesting as their sound. Commins’ description of fans found at any given show can be easily mistaken for fairytale characters. “[You can find] horse drummers, hooded Krinkle killers, mild-mannered dwarfs,” he says. “And a wolf holding a Kill Krinkle Club sign. One of these is a lie.”

When it comes to songwriting, the duo describes the process as rubbing two sticks together to get a spark and fueling it until it becomes a fire. “We take turns being the spark and being the fuel,” Commins says. They try to let themes and ideas come about, never aiming for any specific concept beforehand. “We work in a very stream-of-consciousness way, just trying to get in that space where things flow naturally,” Bergman adds.

GOALS
Here’s Kill Krinkle’s to-do list: “Be number one in 14 countries, tour for two years in said 14 countries, burn out, rehab, find God, and become hermits, only to suddenly reappear 10 years later on reality TV game shows.”

Bergman goes on to say it’s about “creating as much as possible today, right now.” Commins agrees, adding, “If you’re too busy thinking of how great the goal will be, it’s easy to try to rush the little important things. I think enjoying the process is the most important thing.”

MORE INFO
Kill Krinkle Club MySpace

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Kill Krinkle Club are Venus Zine's "Band of the Month" for May 2008. Visit Venus Zine’s Sonic Bids page to submit your profile for coverage consideration.

Charlotte Sometimes strikes balance between powerful and passive

2008-05-07T11:17:53-05:00

It started with a snotty kid in junior high and ended in a major-label record deal. When Charlotte Sometimes was bullied in middle school, she took out her anger by writing a poem about the brat who was mean to her, which turned into a song. “My dad told me that no one really wants to hear me just sing my poems. He said, ‘You should probably get a collaborator,’” says Charlotte, whose stage moniker comes from a children’s book of the same name. “I was like, ‘I’m not gonna get a collaborator, I’m gonna do it on my own. I’m gonna play guitar and write songs,’ and he’s like, ‘OK.’” And so she did.

The song she wrote about the jerk in middle school certainly wasn’t the last Charlotte penned about a guy — her May 6, 2008, Geffen Records debut, Waves and the Both of Us, has plenty of them. But the feisty pop album also has a number of contradictions, much like the 20-year-old herself. Onstage, Charlotte usually wears an apron, which she says is a nod to Samantha from Bewitched. The infamous TV character had to decide what kind of woman she wanted to be: homemaker or breadwinner, powerful or passive. “I always thought how interesting of a concept it is to be the woman with all these great things about you, yet you still want to downplay the things that make you exceptional, for a guy,” Charlotte says.

Applying this to her own songs, Charlotte says she juggles between being strong and opinionated and wanting the guy to come back to her. In “AEIOU,” she sings about a creepy guy who hit on her and chased her down the street, and then in “Toy Soldier” she wants a guy to take her back. “I think every girl feels that way, even if they don’t admit to it,” she says. “We’re all strong women, but we’re all little girls inside. It’s hard to decide what role you want to play. Who are you as a woman? Do you want to please the man? Do you want to please yourself? Can you do both? Can you be the girl who cries, but be the girl who punches the guy in the face? I don’t know.”

When I meet with Charlotte before a show in late February 2008, there are many places she would rather be than Lansing, Michigan. I can’t say I blame her — the weather sucks, and Mac’s Bar (a smoke-filled hole in the wall down the road from a Big Ten college town) isn’t the most glamorous of music venues. It doesn’t help that it’s the first date of her tour with local punk rockers Every Avenue, or that her last experience at Mac’s was just a couple of notches below awful. When she graced the stage at the bar last fall, it was the beginning of another tour, the venue was empty and smoky, and Charlotte lost her voice. The sickness she says she feels in her stomach is totally justified.

Queasiness and bad memories aside, the New Yorker by way of New Jersey is as bubbly as ever — maybe because she’s so excited to talk to a girl after being cooped up on a bus with a bunch of guys. “It’s hard the first week of any tour because I’m the only girl,” she says. “I’ve gotta get used to eating strangely and sleeping in a weird way … I get kinda cranky.”

Onstage, Charlotte is animated. During her short set, she danced on band members and seduced the cameras of fans in front of the stage. She says her performance style stems from her dance and theater background, but she’s also dramatic because the guy who inspired a few of the tracks is long gone. “I play it up onstage a little bit. It’s almost like a comedy, even though when I wrote it, it was so hurtful,” she says.

Charlotte says she tries to find the right balance in her music between clever, catchy, and intelligent, and tries to put this in a language that most people will understand. “I want to be able to help someone [with] their day the way that my music has helped me get through the day,” she says. “You want to please yourself, but at the same time you want to please other people, without giving up who you are. And that’s what you want to do in a relationship. So that’s how I take on music, like a relationship.”

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Charlotte Sometimes MySpace

Four Tet

2008-05-06T13:23:26-05:00

If Four Tet were a rock band, not the nom de plume of British electronica-mastermind Kieran Hebden, and used guitar and bass, instead of laptops and turntables, then Ringer would be Hebden’s back-to-basics, recorded-in-five-days, garage-rock album. Compared to the free-jazz freak-outs of 2005’s Everything Ecstatic or the narcotic folk-tronica on 2003’s breakthrough Rounds,Ringer is an album of minimalist techno — four songs of simple synthesizer arpeggios and fat downbeats.

Hebden has made a dance record — maybe the first of his nine-year career.

This is not to say there aren't scads of meaty, interesting things going on, or that you need glow sticks and a pocket full of pills to enjoy yourself. Ringer is still, ultimately, a Four Tet record. The title track comes on like a classic Ibiza rave-up with pulsing synths and bass beats before exploding at the eight-minute mark with a manic burst of Keith Moon percussion. The third track, “Swimmer,” is a study in sustained tension — a dance track on Percocet. Hebden holds a single woozy synth tone over a steady kick drum and distant washes of chiming guitar. If it weren’t for its throbbing bass, “Swimmer” would be a pleasant piece of ambient electronica. But with it, Hebden plants his feet — and ours — firmly on the dance floor.

In a sense, Four Tet’s new direction makes perfect sense. Though Hebden’s ultimate allegiance is with the avant-garde — as his recent work with legendary jazz percussionist Steve Reid makes clear (see The Exchange Session volumes 1 and 2) — he’s always managed to make these influences eminently palatable like Rounds’ brief role as the soundtrack to everyone’s dinner party.

With the Ringer EP, Hebden gets us to take our Kraut-rock medicine and like it too. Throw in a club-land beat and it goes down real easy.

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Four Tet's Official Website

Beverly Bryan loves Pierced Arrows

2008-04-30T21:43:49-05:00

Couple Fred and Toody Cole have been playing together in bands like Dead Moon for decades, but as Pierced Arrows their defiant music may be keener than ever. A younger band couldn't have written the album Straight To The Heart.

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Pierced Arrows Web site

Pierced Arrows MySpace page

Beverly Bryan is a Venus Zine writer.

Emily Armond’s Tour Diary, Part 2

2008-05-06T15:52:52-05:00

For the next two months, piccolo player Emily Armond will be traveling on a bus with 12 men as part of Dark Meat’s 2008 spring tour caravan. While touring, Armond has graciously agreed to document what happens “on the bus” and “off the bus,” and what it’s like to be a woman touring on the road with so very many boys. Check venuszine.com for weekly updates about Dark Meat’s road shenanigans in support of the band’s new album, Universal Indians (re-released April 8 on Vice).

April 20, 2008, New York City

Last week I didn’t have much to say, but this week I could write a book (and someday I will. I’ve always been in it for the money). I’m at the Cake Shop, and we’re rounding up the troops to go get filmed on the bus for MTV2.

The bus, our humble home, is a 1972 GMC 35-footer that reads “SPECIAL” on the destination scroll up front. It has been failing us this week. Yesterday we spent six hours sitting on a grassy knoll at BMI airport while Forrest (drummer and bus owner) and Curtis (roadie, vocalist, and perpetual troubadour) ran around getting dirty. They’re our mechanics. After the tire man came, we made it 30 miles before the radiator hose sprang a leak; that was another two hours in the grass, this time behind a suburban shopping center. This is also after half the band spent a day in New Jersey waiting on repairs. Patience is becoming rare.

The venue in Norfolk, Virginia, fed us a family-style meal. A huge bowl of pasta was placed at the center of the table, but instead of passing it around like civilized people, 15 forks went flying. The bowl was empty in less than a minute, and then arguments about who was next for the fresh ground pepper ensued, a microcosm of our family function if ever there was one.

We had our first of two run-ins with the cops in Norfolk. We went to this girl Betsy’s apartment after the show — not the soberest bunch as you might imagine — and she had wine, beer, and records. Not long after an enthusiastic sing-along to Dylan’s “All I Really Want to Do,” there was a knock-knock-knock at the door. We figured it was an angry neighbor, but it was a cop who said, “You think I could come up here just to say hi?” Betsy made it OK by showing him a nude self-portrait in charcoal and asking him if he wanted to come to her art show. Crisis averted.

Next was Raleigh, North Carolina, where we had a hometown crowd for Jim, Ben, and Dylan, our Carolinian members. The bar was packed and we played well and played loud. Then we went to our trumpet player’s mom’s house in the suburbs to park for the night and shower in the morning. She had a big plate of pastries and let us do laundry. We were on the back porch laying out clothes in the sun when man in uniform #2 came sidling up. “The neighbors sent me over to check you guys out,” he said. He came inside to see all the suspicious coffee drinking and lounging going on before giving us the nod and walking puff-chested back to his patrol car.

Off to Richmond, Virginia, the home of our confetti player Deuter (aka Herbal Wang, our stylist). He cooked a big meal and kept the Cosmopolitans coming. The show was in an old firehouse-turned-art space, and things got slightly crazy. Afterward, we split in half so some could go to New Jersey for bus repairs, and the rest of us could join the Deuter party wagon.

We went to some bar and sat in a corne, refilling our glasses from a bottle of whiskey that Jim smuggled in. At the end of the night, Curtis decided to smash a table’s worth of cocktail glasses. A Dark Meat fire drill followed: We were out the door in 10 seconds. The bouncer was going to kill someone until he saw Deuter, who is not a small dude. Walking back to Deuter’s house, he realized he’d left his keys on the bus, so I had to play burglar and cut his screen and climb through a small, high window.

The next day, the others were sitting in Vineland, New Jersey, while we went for a swim in the James River. ’Twas a sight to see, eight paint-smeared hooligans [Ed. Note: Dark Meat wears face and body paint at its shows] river-walking in slow motion with arms out for balance. A rented minivan got us to Baltimore, where Monotonix took it to the streets at the end of the night: Yonatan was on top of a van with his guitar, and Ami and “Gever” were in the middle of the street with sweaty people dancing all around. It was one of the happier sights I’ve seen in my 25 years.

We were late to Philly (more bus problems), but the show was great again. We played some warehouse space that had swings and hammocks and an old piano. A bottle of absinthe went round and our violin player Molly blew all of our minds playing with Curtis on piano. I watched her tell someone off with music. She’s our newest (and youngest) member, and her talent is staggering.

Now we’re back in New York, and I’m sad because Monotonix will be gone tomorrow.

Liz Tormes’ Tour Diary, Part 4

2008-05-06T14:42:56-05:00

Singer-songwriter musician Liz Tormes has been compared to Neko Case, Sam Phillips, and Nina Nastasia for her melodic song arrangements and haunting vocals. The Nashville native and New York transplant has just released her critically acclaimed album Limelight and will be touring sporadically in support of it in the upcoming year.

Throughout April 2008, Tormes agreed to take us on her first tour of Ireland. In this final and fourth installment, Tormes sums up what she’s learned on the trip and what advice she’ll take with her on future tours.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008 — Back to Northern Ireland

I’m up at 7:30 a.m. for the bus to Donegal. I had one piece of toast for breakfast and took a taxi to the bus stop. It’s amazing how these giant buses are able to navigate the tiny roads in Ireland. There were many twists and turns and soon I started to feel a little green. It’s not unusual, as I often feel car-sick when I travel. The good thing, I reminded myself, is that no matter how badly I start to feel, I actually never got sick enough — until today.

I got back to the Musician's house to meet up with him, as he was going to accompany me on a radio show. Too hung over from the previous night to drive, the Musician called a friend to drive us to the station. We were running late and in the middle of the drive to the station, the Musician realized he forgot his guitar. It was too late to turn around. He thought for a moment and then said he’d ask to borrow a guitar from a shop in town. We stopped at the shop and they agreed, so we rushed off to the station with the borrowed Fender where I did a quick interview and played a couple songs.

Then we went back to the house so that I could practice for the night’s gig. With Teddy Thompson, I played only 30-minute sets. The Musician was meant to accompany me on the gig and play some of his own songs but he managed to get barred from the venue at the last minute. That meant that tonight, it was a one-and-a-half hour solo set for Liz. I played lots of my older songs and threw in a few murder ballads for good measure.

The set was great, although it began at midnight — ugh. One thing I love about playing in Europe is that there are folks in their 60s, 70s, even 80s out listening to live music. One such old man, Tommy, would periodically clap along, smile from the back of the room, and occasionally shout out unintelligible words during my set. I thought he was speaking in Gaelic, as everyone would laugh and I had no idea what he had said. Towards the end of the set, he came up and passed me a note on stage and I finally got the joke.

It was the most fun gig of the tour. The place was not jam-packed, but there was a good-sized crowd, and it was really nice to know that everyone who was there had come to see me. One fellow drove three hours to come to the gig.

After the late gig I was wrecked and ready for bed, but the party came to the Musician's house at 3 a.m. There were drinks, smokes, and an impromptu jam session. I finally made it to bed around 5 a.m., waking up at 9 a.m. to catch the four hour bus back Dublin. I was ready to leave.

It was great to have a native show me around. I saw parts of Ireland I never would have seen on my own. But it can be difficult to be dependant on someone you don't know very well. I was looking forward to going back to a hotel with instant and reliable hot water, fresh bed sheets, and mainly, calm.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008 — Last night in Ireland

Touring alone was quite an experience. It gave me a lot of exposure, which is important at this stage when my CD, Limelight, is not available in Europe.

I had toured England a few years ago as the opener for New York City band Alice Texas. It was a totally different situation. We had a van and it was much easier getting around, not having to drag everything around with me and keep on eye on my belongings 24/7.

It was also a lot more fun experiencing all the highs and lows of touring with other people. Getting lost and having weird, horrible, or ridiculous things happen is much more bearable when you’ve got friends to laugh about it with you. There was a sense of camaraderie that you don’t get when you tour on your own.

But it was also satisfying to make it through all the crazy and hectic days of travel on my own in Ireland. And the Alice Texas folks offered a great piece of advice before I left. "If you’re not staying in hotels the whole time, you might wanna think about getting one of those travel towels.” Indeed.

Lucky Dragons ‘Make a Baby’ with electricity and audience participation

2008-05-06T14:11:21-05:00

It’s not easy to get people to interact with each other at shows. But Luke Fischbeck and Sarah Rara of L.A. experimental duo Lucky Dragons have it down pat. It’s all about a box that turns electrical resistance into sound.

Fischbeck created a box that contains four braided wires, or “touchers,” extend from it, and the whole contraption feeds into a laptop. Fischbeck and Rara often perform in small gallery spaces, where they present the box to an audience by setting it on the floor. The touchers produce channels of feedback when touched, but here’s the catch: the audience has to touch each other as well. At least two people have to touch each other and touch a wire to trigger the first note. Lucky Dragons calls the concept “Make a Baby.”

“Everyone playing Make a Baby has to form a bridge between each other for it to work,” Rara says. The device produces a series of tonal progressions based on different levels of electrical resistance. The progressions are created by the number of people who touch each other and the way they touch each other.

Adding more layers of meaning, Fischbeck and Rara describe Make a Baby as a game and a ritual. “There’s a lot of magic in these performances. [It’s] asking people to do things they wouldn’t ordinarily think made any sense,” Fischbeck says.

In one part of the performance, audience members move rocks inside a magnetic field generated by turning the sound box up all the way. The laptop produces feedback, translating very small changes in energy into notes. In turn, these ritual games transform strangers into band mates. The technical aspects may require some explanation, but the aim of these performances is simple. “It’s a totally unnatural situation that people have to leap into,” Rara says. “It results in a lot of genuineness and people taking their guards down.”

THE SOUND
There are parallels to be found in Lucky Dragons’ new album, Dream Island Laughing Language (Marriage). Fischbeck and Rara started simply: recording themselves playing acoustic instruments in their house. You’ll hear the sound of flutes and mini-dulcimer, as well as rocks and hands. But Fischbeck finished the album by editing tape loops of the basic sounds into experimental pop songs crafted like a finely woven textile. Though the rhythmic tracks can feel a bit like electronica, the album also has a light, handmade texture recalling experimental bands Animal Collective and the Raincoats.

Lucky Dragons has a discography consisting of too many experiments and collaborations to name, but both band members agree that Dream Island is an unusual instance where the two sat down and worked on making an album with typical songs. “Some of them have words to them, so just on a basic level it’s pretty different,” Rara says.

Still, it’s only a traditional album when compared with Lucky Dragons’ free-form past. “A lot of the songs are just a few notes played with rubber bands stretched across a board,” Fischbeck says. “It’s very simple music, we’ve just expanded.”

THE STARTUP STORY
The pair’s collaborative efforts began simply enough. Rara met Fischbeck at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, in 2004. The artists found their community-oriented goals complimentary and started Sumi Ink Club, a drawing group open to all ages and skill levels. But they were soon expanding these efforts into other projects: Going to noise shows and living together, for instance, led to playing music. In 2005, they formed Lucky Dragons and they started doing Make a Baby.

That piece in particular satisfies the aims of two artists who seek radical equality in everything that they do. In concert, they avoid a divide between audience and performer, hoping to give agency to everyone there. They especially want audience members to be aware of each other. Rara says seeing the connections and relationships formed in the audience during Lucky Dragons’ performances are extremely satisfying for that reason. “Just seeing everyone walk out the door after a show is kind of proof that this is possible. Those shows start with a lot of tension, and they end with everyone talking,” she says.

Another part of the Lucky Dragons’ mission is to play for and with as many different people as possible. As much performance artists as musicians, Lucky Dragons play punk clubs like The Smell in Los Angeles and the Whitney Biennial in New York. Rara notes both venues are all-ages, though the crowds are presumably different from one another.

With a history of prolific touring across four continents — and participating in workshops for kids as part of a recent Japanese tour with French performance band Shobo Shobo — the group is working hard to accomplish its mission. The result is a lot of strangers touching and talking to each other — a piece of wizardry for any band.

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Lucky Dragons' "Make a Baby" documentary on YouTube
Lucky Dragons' official website
Lucky Dragons' MySpace

Birds of Avalon

2008-05-06T13:13:13-05:00

If you want to embrace your inner prog-rocker, look no further than Raleigh, North Carolina’s Birds of Avalon whose six song EP Outer Upper Inner journeys to the Outer Banks of indie rock. Birds of Avalon do not exist solely to noodle on guitar — they always balance their experimentation with hook-filled melodies. Along with mercurial vocals from Craig Tilley, the dual guitars of band founders Cheetie Kumar and Paul Siler (who are happen to be married) flesh out the sound atop a solid rhythm section featuring bassist David Mueller and drummer Scott Nurkin.

Outer Upper Inner follows the Birds’ 2007 full-length debut, Bazaar Bazaar. Rock elder statesman Mitch Easter (R.E.M., Helium) produced both albums. “Measure of the Same,” kicks off the EP using upper register harmonies reminiscent of the Hollies, without damning the band to mining a shelf of dusty oldies. “Earthbound” sounds like an unlikely cross between Yo La Tengo and Cheap Trick, but it works. On “Hazy 98,” piano and saxophone play off a background of shoe-gazey effects, yet Tilley’s slightly sweet vocals anchor the song.

On “The Reeds,” Tilley’s vocals turn nasal and, along with the metal-esque guitar line and heavy bongos, the result is trite and predictable. The jam-band inspired “Keep it Together, Thackery” ends the record well. Though it’s about a boy losing a girl again and again, with lyrics such as, “This is the worst goodbye so far / Girl, don’t you tell me / that it’s come to tears / after all these years,” the song finishes with an unexpected and welcome whirl of feedback.

Although they stitch disparate, and often easily recognizable, elements together, Birds of Avalon breathe enough new life into what they borrow to make Outer Upper Inner well worth the trip.

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Bird of Avalon Official Website

Memphis gets muddy at Beale Street Music Festival

2008-05-06T09:11:38-05:00

Known to some as "Memphis in mud," the annual Beale Street Music Festival is always expected to have at least one rainy day. This year was no exception, with a Friday-night downpour along the shores of the Mississippi River. However, most fans, especially the younger ones, don't mind the mud — they actually look forward to it. Being an old guy, I really had not noticed how fashionable rubber rain boots had become, but on Friday women were wearing wild designs in every color imaginable.

Memphis in May is a month-long party, with the music festival kicking off the first weekend. Held in Tom Lee Park, musicians of all genres take over five stages to perform for about 110,000 people. With camera and gear in hand, I set out to capture the first two days of the fest.

May 2, 2008

On Friday night, the on-and-off rain didn't stop Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, or their fans. Wearing her trademark leather vest and pants, Jett walked onstage with a big smile and commenced to rock the crowd. Interacting with her fans, you could tell Joan was having fun — she just keeps getting better and better.

The skies opened up and the rain poured down five minutes before Jonny Lang was scheduled to hit the stage — delaying his set for an hour while fans loyally continued to chant his name. When Lang finally began to deliver his hot style of blues, everyone seemed to forget about being soaked to the skin, although his show was cut short to give way to the night's headliner, Sheryl Crow.

What can you say about Sheryl Crow? Two of Friday's other top acts — Ben Folds and the Roots — canceled, and Crow could have done so as well, but instead she stuck out the storm to ensure that her fans were not disappointed. With her hair in loose braids, she walked onstage, grabbed the microphone, and, like Lang's set minutes before, everyone suddenly forgot the rain. She lifted everyone’s spirits with crowd banter between songs and her music made everyone forget the bad situation, although she too was cut short from the showers.

May 3, 2008

The weather was much better the rest of the weekend: Saturday was muddy, with the temperature going down to the 50s, but the mud dried up into a warm, beautiful Sunday.

I was looking forward to Cat Power's show on Saturday, as it was my first time hearing her music. Chan Marshall not only has a beautiful voice, but also is a lot of fun on stage. She came out dressed in sweats, carrying a coffee cup and a camera; she took a sip, set them down, and then proceeded to sing and float around the stage. At the end, she picked up the camera and photographed the audience.

Next was blues icon Buddy Guy, who drew a pleasantly surprising crowd of teenagers and early 20-somethings. With such a young following, it means the blues are here to stay. Guy is a great performer — besides his incredible guitar playing, he at one point took a few sips from his coffee cup while he held one note.

Lou Reed, on the other hand, gave a totally different impression. The back of the stage was always either all blue or all green, with no light in the front. He usually sang with his head down, his face almost always in the shadow — a photographer’s nightmare — but the real excitement came from Santana.

Other than being a little cool (for Memphis), it was a beautiful night to listen to the smooth sounds of Carlos Santana on the banks of the Mississippi River. With three drummers occupying three sets of percussion instruments, the beat was overwhelming. Ranked as one of the top guitarists of all time, 60-year-old Santana fired up the audience with his presence alone. Known to be a very humble and religious man, he touches, talks, and sings to people through his guitar — he needs nothing more.

Heat, cold, rain, mud, or even snow would not have stopped the fans and talent of Memphis in May's Beale Street Music Festival. This year was one of the best lineups to date, and it just keeps getting better. It's not only a place to hear music, but also to see old friends and make new ones. As soon as people leave and pass through the gates when it's over, they already start thinking about next year.

Tribeca 2008 boasts Kurt Cobain lookalike, Lyme Disease, and flying nun subplot

2008-05-06T09:20:00-05:00

Oscar contenders collect buzz at Toronto. Celebrity swag-mongers collect freebies at Sundance. But for the true film buff, the Tribeca Film Festival — Robert De Niro's open love letter to New York City — collects raves for its accessibility and diverse slate of films.

After a year that garnered criticism for inflated ticket prices and an overstuffed roster, the 2008 TFF slimmed down selections to slightly more than 120 films (down from 158) and cut ticket prices by $3. Either way, independent, international, and documentary flicks were out in full force, as were the crowds and crowd pleasers (Baby Mama kicked off festivities with its world premiere on April 23; Speed Racer closed the festival and signaled the unofficial beginning of blockbuster season). Venus Zine was on the scene with the films gaining steam and the movies that didn't quite make the cut.

THE HITS
• Pray the Devil Back to Hell, one of the festival's most intriguing films and winner of the Best Documentary prize, centers on a story of true female empowerment. In 1989, the West African country of Liberia entered an age of violent civil war. As the ruling dictatorship and several rebel groups jostled for power, more than 200,000 people were killed, displaced from their homes, and the culture of violence permeated. While the men and boys were the perpetrators of violence, the women of Liberia — mothers and starving children, refugees chased from their homes, witnesses to and victims of violent acts — started their own movement.

For the first time in the nation's history, Christian and Muslim women banded together and in 2003 staged a protest for peace. Thousands of women attended the outdoor protests, armed with placards reading "The Women of Liberia Want Peace Now." Several staged a sex strike; when leaders met for peace talks, a large group staged a sit-in, blocking every building window and exit.

Pray the Devil Back to Hell chronicles the event, displaying the passion of the women and their incredible ability to band together. The film itself breaks no new ground, relying on the standard documentary techniques of interviews and archival footage. But its simplicity is one of its assets. Unlike stylized docs (like Errol Morris' "nonfiction films," including Tribeca smash Standard Operating Procedure), Pray the Devil relies completely on the strength of its story, allowing the women who lived it to decide how their story should be told. The result is an inspirational tale — and calls to attention a landmark movement that has flown under the radar. 'Til now.

• Documentary meets caper film Man on Wire is the stylish retelling of Frenchman Philippe Petit's 1974 tightrope walk on a cable strung between the tops of the Twin Towers. The event, planned without New York City's consent or knowledge, became a sensation, and came only as a result of years of plotting, CIA-levels of conspiring, disguises, and shady business (Petit once told the designers of the Center that he was a French journalist, bringing cameramen to the top of the still-being-constructed towers to gather information about its design).

Man on Wire keeps up a frantic pace, combining interviews with noiri-sh black-and-white re-enactments, and Petit's French charm makes the film often feel fantastical. His obsession with pulling it off — not to mention his talent for jaw-dropping tightrope walks — comes off as impish and as a delicate art, and Man on Wire captures the contagious spirit with playful music and scenes. Though the film also gently reminds us that the towers, sadly, no longer exist, it's a fitting tribute to what was once NYC's greatest architectural feat — and one of man's most stunning personal achievements.

• The 27 Club: After the drug-induced death of his friend, a rock star (played by Kurt Cobain lookalike Joe Anderson) contemplates joining "the 27 Club" — the age when a number of prominent musicians (including Cobain, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix) died. Some moments seem overwrought (hazy lighting, clichéd flashbacks), but the film covers its views of the Midwest in a grimy yellow haze that looks simultaneously beautiful and depressing. For fans of the classic road trip movie or the 27 Club myth.

• Under Our Skin: A documentary about Lyme Disease (which more than 200,000 people contract each year) comes jam-packed with often-disturbing statistics. Were you aware that ticks also carry herpes? Neither were we, but that's certainly good to know.

THE MISSES
• Since the premiere of 1995's Kids, writer-director Harmony Korine has worn the crown of hipster kids' favorite off-kilter filmmaker. He makes his much-anticipated return with Mister Lonely, and on paper, it's a charming story. Diego Luna plays a Parisian Michael Jackson impersonator, lonely until a Marilyn Monroe impersonator (Samantha Morton) invites him to join her strange commune where everyone lives their lives as someone else. There's a foul-mouthed Abe Lincoln, foul-mouthed Buckwheat, the Three Stooges, and Marilyn's family — Charlie Chaplin and Shirley Temple.

The film has its gentle moments (Luna captures the isolated awkwardness of his character; Morton nails the vulnerability of hers) and a great premise, but Korine confuses arthouse quirky with "weird for weird's sake." Several scenes feel carelessly slapped together or take weird turns for no reason, and a flying nun subplot falls flat (no pun intended). With a bit more focus — and less pressure to live up to his quirky label — Korine's unique ideas may come together to create a better film.

• The always-flawless Julianne Moore throws on sassy period costumes in Savage Grace, the based-on-a-true-story account of 1960s socialite Barbara Baekeland, a woman married to the heir of the Bakelite fortune. Though the story has enough drama to fill a Shakespearean tragedy, the film takes each dramatic bump — mental illness, depression, incest — and somehow manages to make everything seem hollow. Moore successfully teeters on edges from fragile to fierce but can't save this film, which by the way, features one of the most cringe-worthy sex scenes (featuring Barbara and her gay son) ever captured on film.

Emily Becker loves Shinzi Katoh

2008-04-29T20:31:14-05:00

I can’t stop coveting the work of Japanese designer Shinzi Katoh, who draws off-kilter yet playful motifs like apple cores, polka-dotted chairs, and toadstools on everything from aluminum water bottles to re-usable tote bags to sewing tape. Buy Shinzi’s products in the U.S. at Three Potato Four and Mollaspace.

Emily Becker is a Venus Zine Sounds writer.

Reader of the Week: Krissi Sandvik of Sacramento

2008-05-05T17:13:14-05:00

Your art has dark elements but it is also very beautiful and humorous. It also seems to have Latin American art influences. How do you go about coming up with subject matter?
I grew up in the 1970s and ’80s and spent a lot of my childhood watching Night Gallery and old horror movies on late-night TV. My mother was an emergency room nurse, which meant that I was exposed to her graphic blood-and-guts jokes, known to insiders as “hospital humor.” Just about anything was fair game for discussion at the dinner table.

In the ‘80s and ’90s, I spent a very happy decade immersed in the mix of Latin and Latin American culture that San Francisco’s Mission District offered. The people are warm and welcoming, and the food is incredible. Despite my red hair and pale skin, I’m a Latina at heart.

I like to comment on serious subjects with a sense of humor because I’ve found people will actually open their minds to new ideas or ways of thinking when they’re happy. My current subjects of interest are the problematic body image of American girls and women, bigotry of any flavor, and the plight of domestic and wild animals.

In short, I was exposed to a wide range of cultures (and pop-culture icons), which meld together in the subjects, imagery, ironic humor, and even fabric choices of my works.

Are you a full-time artist?
I do have a few “housewife” duties caring for our seven animals, but if it weren’t for my incredible husband, Ron, I’d probably have a day job and never have time to create. Thanks to his support, I can spend my days working on my art and administrating two artist collectives (The Scary-Art Collective and Scary-Art CRAFT).

When did you decide to start displaying your work on less traditional “canvases” such as mouse pads, mirrors, and mugs?
I don’t think I really “decided” to merchandise my work as much as my friends and supporters started demanding to see my Skelekitty character on stuff they could buy and use on a daily basis. She’s my most popular creation, but because it takes a lot of cutting and sewing of tiny pieces of silk to create her, we have a love-hate (but mostly love) relationship. Upon her creation, my friend Nicolas Caesar summed it up by saying, “Get ready to make these for the rest of your life!”

View Krissi Sandvik's work at krissisandvik.com and krissisandvik.blogspot.com.

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Crafting a Business with Jenny Hart

2008-05-05T14:34:56-05:00

We all know the image of the boss or head honcho in the movies quietly considering counsel whispered in his/her ear from a most trusted adviser. They take in all the information before making a final decision. This is what wisely steering a business is really about: gathering the most reliable information to base your decisions on, not just bulldozing forward with every idea of your own, independent of wiser voices that might better inform your moves and decisions.

When you decide to fire up your own business, you’ll quickly find yourself asking for help, and you’ll need it. Some advisers are professionals who are paid for their services, but some of your most valuable advisers could be friends or family who help guide you for free. So who will be your advisers and how do you find them?

This month, I’m seeking counsel from Lauren Bacon and Emira Mears to advise us on advisers. Together they have authored the book Boss of You (Seal Press) and have some sound ideas on how a small business builds its dream team.

Who are “advisers” and how do they serve a business?
Business advisers are kind of like personal trainers: They're not there to do the work for you, but they will give you expert, specialized insight into how you can be more effective and achieve your goals — whether that goal is to build up capital to reinvest in the business or protect your legal rights. Advisers don't necessarily need to be professionals; some of our best advisers have been colleagues with more experience in a particular area of business, but in many cases, you will turn to your advisers for professional knowledge in a specific area.

As a small business owner, you are always juggling a lot of balls, but when it's time to delve deeper into one area — whether it's finance, marketing, legal stuff, long-range planning, or something else — the advice and guidance of someone who's a pro in their field can go a long way to helping you make smarter decisions.

What professional advisers should a small-business person hook up with at the beginning?
Every business will eventually need a lawyer and an accountant, but small businesses can often do without either for a while. A lot will depend on the kind of business you're running. If you need to incorporate right off the bat or have copyright, trademark, and/or patent concerns, then you'll want a lawyer right away. Even small service firms are wise to have a lawyer available for assistance with wording contracts, partnership agreements, and so on, though you can get a long way on the advice of books, small-business resource centers (many states have government-funded programs to help entrepreneurs with basic contract templates and such), and the occasional e-mail or phone call to a lawyer just to make sure your T’s are crossed and your I’s dotted. As for accounting help, if you're like us and start out as a partnership (the equivalent of an LLP in the U.S.), you can probably get away with just having a bookkeeper (which is a lot cheaper than an accountant), but if and when you incorporate, you'll need an accountant for sure.

Ultimately, every entrepreneur needs to ask herself what her personal strengths and weaknesses are, as honestly as she possibly can, and then look around for people to fill the gaps. In our book we’ve included an exercise devoted to this very topic to help business owners get clear on where they do need the help of an outsider. It's tempting to think you can do it all — especially when you're trying to save some cash — but the wisdom and experience of someone who has been there or who is a pro will almost always pay you back in spades and save you the trouble of learning from well-intentioned mistakes.

If your budget is small but you need to pay a professional adviser, who should you invest in? In other words, where is money well spent in terms of paying a professional adviser?
We're big fans of keeping your budget modest and working within your means. If you're strapped for cash but need to hire an adviser, it's worth asking if they'd be willing to work in trade or to let them know flat out that you're working with a limited budget and ask what they think would be the wisest allocation of your limited funds. That said, when it comes to hiring someone you're going to entrust with critical business information, it's probably best to remember the old "you get what you pay for" adage; this is not necessarily the place to skimp, budget-wise, if you can help it.

In terms of when to hire a pro and when not to, we heard some recurring themes when we were writing our book. No one seemed to regret hiring a good lawyer (the bad ones are a different story), but a lot of the people we talked to said if they could go back and do it again, they'd wait longer before hiring a P.R. agent. The common thread was that small-business owners in particular tend to understand their market niche better than an outside P.R. adviser, and they found that the typical processes of a P.R. agent just didn't fit well with their smaller-business ethic. Many of them recommended seeking advice on the basics — like how to write a good press release or put together a good press kit — even if it means paying someone for help with a few of the smaller pieces. But save your budget on hiring a pro for a full P.R. campaign until you've really hit the big leagues.

What is the best way to find advisers?
The best way to find professional help of any kind, from plumbers to lawyers, is word of mouth. Ask all the entrepreneurs you know who they recommend — and be sure to ask them if there's anyone they don't recommend, too, because you'll save yourself a lot of time if you know who to avoid. If you don't have a local community to draw from, see if you can find help online. Discussion boards like The Switchboards and Craftster are great places to start. Of course, you can always try going through professional associations; most of them have searchable directories online, but you may have better luck just phoning the association office; give them details about what you're looking for, and see if they can provide you with a short list of likely candidates in your area. But if there's any way you can swing it, a personal recommendation is definitely the way to go.

When you've got a list of people to call, draft up a short list of questions to ask. Tell them a little about your company; then ask about the clients they work with. One thing we generally recommend when looking for professional advisers is to ask them what their area(s) of specialty are, because the answer can tell you a lot about whether you're likely to be a fit. There are bookkeepers who specialize in working with freelancers and others who work almost exclusively with larger firms; lawyers in particular are usually specialists.

How can you tell a bad adviser from a good one? It’s an adviser’s job to know more about something than you do, so how do you know if they’re giving good advice?
The most important thing you can do to avoid hiring the wrong adviser is to always, always, always ask for — and check — references. (This goes for anyone you're thinking of hiring, by the way.) You'd be amazed how much you can learn from a couple of five or 10-minute phone calls. Be sure to ask lots of open-ended questions rather than ones that can be answered with a yes or a no; you want to get these people talking, because a lot of the really insightful stuff comes from tangents and "by the way" comments. Remember that a lot of people are inclined to try to sound positive when someone asks for a reference, so put your critical-thinking cap on and listen hard to distinguish genuine enthusiasm from stock answers. You don't just want someone who's OK at their job -- this is someone you're going to trust with a lot of important, confidential information about your business, and you're looking for the very best ally you can find.

What are the warning signs of a bad consultant or adviser?
The biggest giveaway that you're dealing with a bad adviser is if they try to dole out a one-size-fits-all solution. It's likely your first sign of this will be that they don't ask you many questions about you, your business, and your goals; instead, they rush straight to handing out advice. If you get the impression they're more interested in sending you down a conveyor belt than building a relationship with you, run away. Another pet peeve of ours is when an "expert" can't be bothered to explain themselves in plain language. Our experience has been that if they shy away from helping you to understand the language they're using, they're likely trying to keep you from figuring out that they're full of it.

I agree! I feel it’s an adviser’s job to explain and clarify things to their client in a way they understand. Can you talk about your own advisers? Who is your most important and cherished adviser?
We love, love, love our bookkeeper. She's fabulous — always calm, cool, and collected, which is a good thing in a person who deals with your money. And she's been with us from very early in our business's existence. We do our own day-to-day bookkeeping, but she helps us keep our payroll straight, advises us on what kinds of expenses we can write off, and gives us a lot of free business advice along the way. (She runs a successful small business herself, so she knows what she's talking about.)

The other adviser we hold very dear is our business coach. We meet with her every couple of months and discuss long-range goals and business challenges, so one session might be devoted to figuring out how to expand our service offerings, while the next might be about how the heck we're going to take time away from work to promote our new book. She's the most upbeat, enthusiastic taskmaster you ever met, and she's amazing at helping us dream bigger, and then do the work necessary to achieve the dreams.

Isn’t that what it’s all about? Thanks Lauren and Emira for your wise counsel! Visit laurenandemira.com for more information.

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ABOUT THE BOOK
The Boss of You: Everything a Woman Needs to Know to Start, Run, and Maintain Her Own Business (Seal Press)
By Lauren Bacon and Emira Mears
256 pages
List Price: 15.95

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Zines with a DIY business focus:

Croq Zine
croqzine.com

Mixed Tape
mixtapezine.com

DIY biz chat:

supernaturale.com/glitter

Theswitchboards.com

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This is the seventh installment of Jenny Hart’s “Crafting a Business” column. Send your questions to askjenny [at] sublimestitching.com. View additional "Crafting a Business" columns here.

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings

2008-05-05T12:47:58-05:00

04/25/08 Indio, California @ Coachella Music Festival
05/31/08 Hunter, New York @ Mountain Jam Festival
06/06/08 Chicago, Illinois @ Toyota Park (w. Dave Matthews Band)
06/07/08 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania @ The Roots Picnic (with The Roots & Gnarls Barkley)
06/14/08 Manchester, Tennessee @ Bonnaroo Music Festival
06/21/08 Aspen, Colorado @ Jazz Aspen Snowmass
07/02/08 Athens, Greece @ Theatre Vrhahon
07/04/08 St. Etienne, France @ Oulala Festival
07/05/08 Belfort, France @ Eurockness Festival
07/06/08 Roskilde, Denmark @ Roskilde Festival
07/09/08 Stockholm, Sweden @ Berns Hotel
07/10/08 Grimstad, Norway @ Skral Festival
07/11/08 Namur, Belgium @ Cactus Festival
07/12/08 La Haye, Netherlands @ North Sea Jazz Festival
07/13/08 London, England @ The Rise Festival
07/15/08 Juan les Pins, France @ Juan les Pins Festival
07/17/08 Pori, Finland @ Pori Jazz Festival
07/20/08 Hollywood, California @ The Hollywood Bowl (w. Feist)
07/25/08 Portland, Oregon @ Summer Concerts at Oregon Zoo
08/02/08 Chicago, Illinois @ Lollapalooza
08/03/08 Montreal, Quebec @ Osheaga Festival
08/09/08 Baltimore, Maryland @ V Festival
08/17/08 New York, New York Central Park @ Summer Stage
08/2/08-08/22/08 Minneapolis, Minnesota @ Minnesota State Fair
08/23 San Francisco, California @ Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival
09/05/08-09/07/08 Berkeley, California @ The Greek Theatre (w. Dave Matthews Band)
09/27/08 Austin, Texas @ Austin CityLimits