Babymetal - J-Pop meets Mosh-pit!

The latest viral internet sensation among the metal communities has really impressed me. As a metal fan, I love when other forms of music clash with it, particularly in the realm of dance and electronica. So what's better than a Japanese dance group rocking out a routine to death metal with J-pop choruses and some dubstep-inspired breaks? You get Babymetal! They topped the iTunes metal charts in the US and the UK and I'm not surprised. Their live shows look incredibly fun!

Megitsune

   

Here's a typical single from the group. It rocks some heavy drums and distorted guitars with a wicked electro beat (reminds me a lot of Enter Shikari's Meltdown). This is a poppier track from Babymetal, but a perfect introduction to them. Megitsune means "Female Fox".

Ii Ne - Sound's Good!

One of my favorite tracks that I heard off their debut album so I had to check out the live performance. This is really quite a pop-imbued track, but it has some nice death metal vocals in there, and a drastic change into a hip-hop breakdown. The light show is fantastic in this!

Headbangeeeeerrrrrr!

As the name implies, this is clearly a metal track. Reminiscent of typical J-Metal , while still incorporating the girly pop vocals, the sound is very similar to black metal - complete with screaming vocals and double-bass kicks. The breakdown in this is epic, with the girls headbanging and egging the crowd into a mosh-pit before exploding into a shredding guitar solo.

Babymetal Death

Before you start thinking this group is too poppy to be real metal, check out this performance. As the title implies, it is very much death metal-inspired and rips with insane drums and meaty riffs. A true metal crowd-pleaser where the girls are more like cheerleaders for the roaring wave of growls, screams, and metallic crunching. I really hope they come to Canada!

Liberal Arts

I watched the film Liberal Arts recently, the second feature directed by Josh Radnor (famous for playing Ted Mosby in How I Met Your Mother). I really enjoyed the film and its musings on life and experience. Radnor played the lead character in the film, a 35-year old who has a romantic relationship with a 19-year old college student as he visits his old campus. The film is extremely romantic towards literature and music and art in general, and I get a sense that Radnor himself holds a love for this material, almost to the point of pompousness. This isn't all that surprising to me as his character in HIMYM is frequently pretentious in his interests, quoting Joyce's Ulysses or reciting Dante's Divine Comedy in Italian. 

Liberal Arts turns away from the hilarity of Ted Mosby's prentiousness however and shows it more seriously. There is a great scene where the character Zibby (Elizabeth Olsen) calls him out on being a snob when he criticizes the Twlight novels for being awful literature that is the root cause of all the world's problems. This opens his eyes to how snobby he really is being and it changes him. The film does get a little high and mighty at times, and I feel like Radnor can be a bit of an artistic pomp but he does so with likable charisma. The film has many great characters, but my favorite is the stoner-Hippie performance from Zac Efron who professes that "everything is okay". Radnor's character learns a lot from him, and I think reaches a main theme in the film, that life happens and we can worry about it, or we can learn to love and enjoy the ride.

Below is a wonderful scene from the film where Josh Radnor is introduced to classical music by his romantic interest. His feelings of being lost in the music felt very relatable to me, as I have often indulged in the escapism of music while walking in the city. The language reflects the pompousness of Radnor's writing but also fits in with the themes and the characters. I have to admit that I really enjoyed this film and am starting to wonder if I am as pretentious as the lead character in it.

Are We Not Men? We are DEVO!

I can't believe I didn't get into Devo before! A colleague of mine just showed me a few live performances, and then went on to describe his initiation into their bizarre catalogue. He first saw them perform Jocko Homo live on SNL in the 70's, which opened with the intro of this crazy music video. Their concept of the devolution of the human species is reflected in the low-budget production of the video, the wacky and idiosyncratic nature of the New Wave guitar riffs, and within the absurdist lyrics. The costuming choices of the band members, prevalent through the rest of their material, also adds to their mythos. Even though this song was released in the 70's, its themes of a society going down the drain are still relevant today, and I must say it is rather entertaining in all its weird satire.

The Visuals of King Arthur - Dream or Reality?

The first time I saw Jerry Bruckheimer's production of King Arthur, I felt the visuals were odd, featuring colors that were too saturated and weird lighting choices. However, since watching it several more times since it's release in 2004, I feel that these aspects set it apart from other historical epics due to the mythical aspects of Arthurian legend. I began to sense a detachment from reality in the visual aspect of the film. I am a big fan of surrealist cinema, and feel that all movies have a dream-like quality, but due to the nature of the story, I feel it is different with King Arthur.

Firstly, the film uses a lot of deep shadows to accentuate the high contrast look. A technique of realism, this creates a dark, foreboding atmosphere to the film, and also makes it feel like a painting, particularly through the Italian technique called chiaroscuro. 

   

The Crucifixion of St. Peter by Caravaggio - 1600

Self-Portrait by Rembrandt - 1629

This examples show a strong side-lit approach, but chiaroscuro is basically the technique of using the contrast between light and dark to boldly affect the whole composition. The lighting here feels natural, but Bishop Germanus is half-enshrouded in shadow, demonstrating that he is either hiding something or not entirely trust-worthy.

Example of chiaroscuro in King Arthur

Another reference to painting, the use of strong bright colors in the landscape makes an almost ethereal feeling to the setting of Medieval Britain. Although this is supposed to be a historical film, it is still largely based on legend, and the dream-like color palette creates that sense of fantasy. Here we see the country-side, a natural setting, and yet it feels almost artificial because of the high saturation, almost popping out of the frame.

The green of the grass looks highly saturated for reality.

Adding to the strong ethereal atmosphere of the landscapes, is the unique lighting dynamics that cinematographer Slawomir Idziak created in certain scenes. Occasionally, the color of the light does not reflect reality, further demonstrating the dream-like fantasy feel of the film. 

How dream-like does this feel?

This technique is very obvious in the flashback to Arthur pulling Excalibur out of the stone, which is one of the most memorable moments of the original legend. Does that green light feel realistic? Or more like fantasy?

 Idziak also uses symmetry throughout King Arthur, creating a sense of balance in the compositions. This reflects the themes of equality that Arthur is professing in the film. This is most strongly emphasized in the round table, which leaves no head of the table, creating all men equal. 

In contrast to that, there is also a strong use of unbalanced composition to create visual tension. The use of silhouettes and strong shadows again create a heavy weight of visual power in these shots. This is used quite extensively in the dynamics between characters, giving one character visual weight to one side of the frame, establishing power.

The use of negative space adds weight to Arthur's silhouette.

Overall, King Arthur claims to be historically accurate and based on truth, but the mystery around the Arthurian legends and the very fantastic elements to the visual design of the film, makes it all feel very fairy-tale like.

Vinushka: The Masterpiece of Dir En Grey

I became a huge fan of Dir En Grey when I saw their performances at Nippon Budokan on the DVD package of UROBOROS - with the proof in the name of living... This amazing concert film is easily one of the best filmed music performances of all time. 

Let me talk about the film-making first. They must have had dozens of camera, many of them on cranes and dollies. This creates a vast approach the editors could have taken, resulting in a dynamic view of the show. The cinematography itself is crafted with exquisite precision, developing some truly breath-taking compositions with just the right amount of movement. The lighting is perfect for the camera systems they used to record, creating some great rays of light through the fog and an ambiance that I find so rare in recorded live shows.

All of this great footage would be nothing without the band though. Below I have linked the final track of Day 2 at Nippon Budokan: Vinushka. Hailing from their seventh studio album, Uroboros, the song nearly reaches nine minutes. It is an epic journey of progressive metal, that shows off the bands amazing musical range. The drums, guitars, and especially the bass, demonstrate a profound talent. What really strikes me with Dir En Grey, however, is the front man. Kyo is energetic, the true embodiment of what a front man is. His vocal prowess is unprecedented, ranging from swooning falsettos, to gritty hard rock wails, and delving into brutal death metal growls and piercing shrieks of unbelievable depths and heights. His showmanship is delicate and yet powerful in his body movements, his control of the audience, and his inexplicable harness on the power of the music. To say he has control over his voice is an understatement: he fully becomes the voice. Kyo is, by far, my favorite vocalist of any musical genre. Dir En Grey are artists of the highest caliber.

Watch Vinushka:

Enter Shikari

   One of my favorite live acts of recent years is this gem from Great Britain. Enter Shikari are a four-piece electro-punk group that formed in 2003. They blew me away when I started watching them perform their songs live from the third album they made, A Flash Flood of Colour. Here are some of my favorite performances they've put on.

Ghandi, Mate, Ghandi

   I love the way the band all comes together on this one. The guitarist, vocalist, bassist, and drummer all have vocal segments in this one and it works like charm. You can really get a feel for their unity and team vibe here. The lyrics are very focal on the themes they sing about - social dysfunction, revolution, equality, and coming together for a better future.

Gap in the Fence

   This one starts out like a nice ballad, showing off some of Rou Reynolds' guitar techniques. He usually sticks to singing/rapping/screaming and doing the dubstep bits, so it's nice to see him play an instrument here. This song has a perfect build and the dance-pop breakdown is amazing. Their shows are like great big dance parties!

Zzzonked/Havoc

   This one definitely shows their hardcore roots in the beginning bits, reminding me a lot of Rage Against the Machine and Atreyu. There is a nice bit of rapping vocals by Rou, clearly showing his British side both in terms of lyricism and flow. The electronica bits and the behemoth guitar riffs are a head-banging good time and it all deteriorates into a mellow, reggae-style outro. Definitely one of my favorite tracks from these guys. Also I love the drummer's face at the beginning!

Enchanted Princess

I recently watched Disney's Enchanted on Netflix with my girlfriend. I didn't watched it back in 2007 when it gained attention for three Best Original Song nominations at the 80th Academy Awards. I had known the basic premise of the movie, following a Disney-trope princess transported out of her magical two-dimensional fairy-tale world into the very real New York City, and felt it would be an interesting film to watch after Disney's recent fairy-tale endeavor with Frozen. The much acclaimed adaption of the Snow Queen story was seen as a progressive move for the production company, creating two strong female leads that rejected the standard stereotype of most princesses in seeking the true love of a prince. 

Enchanted still followed the classic paradigm of an innocent woman seeking true love. It adheres to all the silly fairy tale tropes that have haunted lead female roles in Disney films. However, it presented its tale with wonder and joy that really made me laugh quite a bit. Amy Adams was wonderful as the princess Giselle, who goes around New York filled with awe at all the strange things she sees. A character out of place in a strange world is a common theme in these kind of movies, but Adams's performance brought it to new heights with her innocent questioning of why people are so unhappy. With most happy-go-lucky movies like this, I can't help but feel a certain cynicism at the optimism, which is why I like to watch darker films with tragic endings (see The Mist or Dancer in the Dark for some good ones). Of course, Giselle's awe and cute wonder at the world would be incredibly lackluster if there wasn't a complete opposite to create the conflict in the film. That's where Patrick Dempsey comes in, playing the realistic feet-on-the-ground single father who's life gets turned upside-down when he is too nice to let poor lost Giselle on her own.

Both characters learn something from each other and this where the film wins. There is a conflict and they gain something in the end. Patrick Dempsey learns to see the bright side, the beauty in the world, to open up about his true feelings, and to love again. Giselle learns about evil, the hardships of real life, that not all people are good and honest, and how to fight for herself and not for someone else. The beautiful thing about all this is how Giselle shows other people the pure beauty in just being alive and getting to share things with each other. This is why she is my favorite part of the film and why I think it received such a great response when it was released. Sure, it still represents the power of being in a hetero relationship, but it does it with a lot of heart.