Today I want to share with you one of my personal favorite music artists. I started listening to Schoolyard Heroes a few years ago and was sad to discover they had broken up after the release of the their third full album.
The band, who can only be described as an alternative conjuration of horror punk, create a wonderful array of sounds with the macabre lyrics of Ryan Donnelly (who has a hauntingly weird voice on her) matched up with the sometimes-spooky-sometimes-hardcore punk rock of the guitar, bass, and drums. Their songs are obvious references to a slew of B-picture horror films ("Panic in the Year Zero"), or weird fiction stories by the likes of Stephen King ("Sometimes They Come Back") and Richard Matheson ("Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"). They may be the epitome of horror-themed lyricism in music, borrowing heavy hallmarks from previous groups like The Misfits or The Bauhaus. I'd like to share one song from each of their albums (which I just had to order online to have my own copies). Take my hand and listen, my friend, to the Schoolyard Heroes:
The Mechanical Man VS The Robot From The Outer Limits
from The Funeral Sciences
Nightmare at 20,000 Feet
from Fantastic Wounds
Cemetery Girls
from Abominations
PS: It was really hard to pick only one song from each album, because I truly love each and every song this group produced. In the future I may share a few other favorites. Cheers!
So this is unique. Grimes is a Canadian pop artist from Vancouver whose musical style can clearly be described as synthpop and dark wave electronic but Wikipedia goes on to include her genres as dream pop (which really defines Genesis) and also as "witch house". This is an interest genre term that I've never come across. Apparently it is defined as occult-themed dark electronic music with a visual aesthetic (see the costume design in the video). Witchcraft-infused trance music? Count me in! But let's look at Grimes for now.
The description of her music as "dream pop" sums it up perfectly. The music is hauntingly atmospheric with a synth-wave that carries you away into an ethereal dreamscape. Ambient music has always been a love of mine (having first immersed myself into Akira Yamaoka's haunting scores for the Silent Hill series and later discovering Brian Eno via U2) and I always felt it had a dreamy quality to the droning, floating progressions. Grimes' vocals hit the dream-zone spot on, being both eerie and sweet at the same time. I feel comforted but also a little lost in the way she sings. Her lyrics are nearly indecipherable, which can be off-putting for some listeners, but it doesn't bother me (I've listened to so much foreign language music and screaming metal that indecipherable lyrics don't detract from sound for me). The video here fits the bill of dream pop quite nicely too. The sunset landscapes are perfect for that dreamy quality, shooting right around "magic hour" (if you've seen Malick's Days of Heaven then you recognize the surreal quality that early morning can have on a cinematic image). However, it is largely the content of the film that creates a weird dream world - from the bizarre costume and make-up of the performers to their awkward dance routines. Characters stand still in unique postures while one person dances mystically, schoolgirls in rich cars play with large snakes, and a group of cybernetic females joy-ride an SUV dragging medieval swords along the desert. Am I dreaming? Yes, you're dreaming of Grimes.
Finally a horror movie I am really excited for! I Am A Ghost has a pseudo-70's feeling that I am totally looking forward for. In a time when mainstream horror is full of remakes and uninspiring concepts, I have often turned to the indie and foreign market for my horror fix (where I discovered such great films as Martyrs and Dead Girl).
It has the feel of Rosemary's Baby,The Shining, and even such art-house films like Fellini's Juliet of the Spirits. Even the design of the trailer has a vintage quality. I am a huge fan of 1970's horror cinema and of psychological/atmospheric horror. The trailer compares it to a combination of Kubrick, Bergman, and Hitchcock, all who have done amazing work being some of the most respected directors in film history.
The concept is simple: a woman is alone in a house and talking to a disembodied voice who says she is a medium trying to help her move on because she is a ghost. the film proclaims to be an experiment in memory. What does a person remember about their death after they have died? I am curious to find out. The film seems scary, experimental, and beautiful. This is the horror film I have been waiting for!
It was officially released in October 2013 but I just heard of it recently. Check out the trailer below!
System of a Down are easily one of my favorite bands out there. Their abrasive political views, their anger infused shouts for social equality, their bizarre lyricism, and just the awesome weirdness of the band members' personalities all combine to create one awesome package. Since the band took a hiatus they haven't created original music as SOAD, but Serj Tankian has had a solid solo career (not as solid as with System, although he is probably one of my favorite people alive), and Daron Malakian released the critically lackluster Scars on Broadway (which I found to be a lot of fun with some solid tracks).
I will forever and always love the first self-titled album from System of a Down and once upon a time I stumbled on this early show they did at Whiskey A-Go-Go in 1997. The recording isn't great, the edit cutting needlessly between band and audience at a rapid pace, but the low-budget videotape of the 90's captures a unique quality to the image that harnesses the raw power of System's early material. Here are a few of my favorite performances:
Soil
This may be one of my all-time favorite songs from SOAD. The guitar-solo from Daron is fantastic, especially when it is coupled with Serj's wacky dance moves (he dances quite a lot like me actually). The raw power in Serj's early vocals is very unique compared to his later material, where he obviously screams and growls a lot less. What I like most about System is that they have a point they are trying to make, even if it is hidden beneath layers of symbolic absurdism and a wall of nu-metal sound.
Suit-Pee
I've seen a lot of Youtube comments discussing who the weird guy doing the deep nasally growls is during the breakdown, and a lot of people believe it is Sako - the guy named in Sugar that Serj bought a gun that fits in his pocket. I don't know, but I actually kind of like that part of this performance - the deep growls remind me of Halloween with the evil laughter and I think of the tree from Poltergeist. It isn't best example of quality death metal, but the coupling between the creepy bellows and Serj's incessant vulgarities is the heaven to the hell of the slow down-tuned instruments. Also, just before they explode into a deliciously heavy breakdown, Daron screams out "come on motherfucker!" and that cry of sheer empowerment just gets me pumped!
Mind
Repetition and pattern is a key to great art that has a message and this is demonstrated well here, especially in the lyrics. Serj repeating the line "look at each other" is something that I think society needs to hear, which is even more relevant today where almost all of us are absorbed into our phones and social media. Maybe we should all actually look at each other now and then. Serj's frustration with the state of people's minds is evident in his performance and it brings out the best within him, and some of his best death growls to date. He is angry at the world and he means what he says. Daron and Shavo, on bass, blast away through the metal riffage, adding a level of frantic energy that only seems to dissipate through Serj's (unique?) dancing.
Sugar
The classic song from SOAD that all my high school friends knew the iconic "sugarrrrrrr" from Daron Malakian. At 1:57 the lead guitarist unleashes a crazy banshee shriek and crazy eyes that just gives me goosebumps. It makes me think - what the fuck? - but it also makes me grin like an idiot. I love these guys! Shavo's bass line leads the group through the song coupled with Daron's medolies carrying the harshness of Serj's mantras. The end of the song ends with a repetition of "in the end it all goes away" with a hardcore nu-metal thrash-out. In the end it all goes away - this simple lyric has so many meanings, but none more than the fact that the System of 1997 are past this moment and living out another.
Horror films were a big deal for me as a kid. I loved getting scared, having nightmares, hearing spooky tales. It was a great thrill. These films are all ones that profoundly scared me when I was a young boy, for one reason or another. They may not be great films, or even all that scary to me now, but I remember them vividly having an impact on me. 1 Jeepers Creepers
What scared me the most in Jeepers Creepers was the monster itself, the "Creeper". He drove a scary truck, wore a costume that hid any defining feature, and when you got underneath that he had leathery skin, cunning eyes and a mouthful of sharp teeth. He carried an array of grisly weapons to murder his victims, and even worse he would eat them. After eating his victims' bodies, he would regain a part of their flesh into his own and grow more powerful. It was eyes most of all that terrified me - those knowing, seeing eyes. As a young boy, it felt like he could see me. 2 Jaws
In Jaws, I felt a terror that was like being in the movie. The scene where a young boy is on a yellow flotation device and gets attacked, and all the beach patrons flee from the water, left me feeling sick. Then, even worse, the mother screaming his name looked almost exactly like my own mother, and she was crying, "Alex! Alex!," which is my little brother's name. It was horrific. This may have been my first view of of real gore as well, when the boys get attacked and you clearly see a human leg float down to the sea floor, trailing a path of bright blood. 3 Event Horizon
I don't remember much from my first time seeing Event Horizon, because I never got to see it all. As the terror built and I grew more scared, the film became almost to much for my childhood imagination. At one point my mom covered my eyes and I heard a family member say, "Oh my God, he's cutting his eyes out." My adolescent imagination was off to the races after that, and, horribly, my mom sent me to bed without knowing what happened next. Years later, when I watched the film in full, it was still a horrific sci-fi flick (and still really good, probably Paul W.S. Anderson's best work) but it did not have the same impact on me as it did back then. 4 Demon Knight
Another film about scary demons that terrified me as a boy. This time, Billy Zane is unleashing a pack of bloodthirsty demons on a group of innocent travelers. The demons are the main thing that terrified me. They shambled along the dark hallways, with glowing eyes, and dark oily skin, looking to eat people. Only the Blood of Christ could prevent them from entering doorways. The demon within Zane's character also tricked his victims into succumbing to death, by lying to them with false promises. This was a terrifying idea, and I had nightmares for a long long time. 5 The 13th Warrior
This isn't really a horror film per se, but like Event Horizon, I never finished the entire movie until I was older, realizing it wasn't as scary as I once thought. Early on in the movie a group of Vikings find a family grotesquely murdered in a cabin in the woods. Their bodies were brutally torn apart. This was horrifying to my young eyes. Soon after, on a foggy night, the Wendol attack the group, and I distinctly remember one of the animal-carcass-wearing enemies grabbing the head of a Viking and twisting it off like a cork. The decapitated head is shown in gruesome closeup being carried around like a trophy. Honorable Mentions: Scream The Ring Surviving the Game Poltergiest
I went to see Divergent on the weekend. I read the original novel by Veronica Roth the week before, so I was familiar with the story and the dystopian world she created. I was very interested in seeing how the film captured Roth's vision of a degenerated Chicago split into five factions. Overall, I was quite pleased with the cinematic adaptation and it fleshed out the themes of the book very nicely.
The world of Divergent is split into five factions, each prioritizing different values: Abnegation - Selflessness, Amity - Kindness, Candor - Honesty, Erudite - Intellect, and Dauntless - Bravery. Each faction enforces these virtues upon its members, to the point of everyone wearing the same style of clothing, and segregating into separate areas of the city resulting in factions not interacting with each other, or at least in very limited and confrontational encounters. Obviously, in a future where peace is supposedly upheld, the society is actually under strain by the conformity it demands. This is where our lead character Tris comes in, whose aptitude test determines her to be Divergent - one who does not fit into any one faction. Her mind seems to encompass all the virtues (particularly bravery, selflessness, and intellect).
The idea of breaking out of conformity is a common theme throughout the film. It stretches through the corrupt society down to the main characters themselves, embracing the idea of being true to themselves. The Dauntless instructor, Four, has a strong sense of who he wants to be when he reveals to Tris that he has the tattoos of all the factions, quoting "I want to be brave, and selfless, intelligent, honest, and kind." He recognizes that these are all valuable ideals to strive for and he doesn't need a government to tell him what ones to embrace. A lot of the ides presented here feel similar to Thoreau's ideas in his essay Civil Disobedience. If everyone did what the factions told them to, there wouldn't be peace. The idea is to think for yourself. Don't blindly follow.
The film follows the story of the novel quite well, although the pacing is wildly off. The novel slowly unfolds, allowing the characters to reveal some bits of information about themselves which is lost in the fast pace of the film (something that is usually a main difference between cinema and literature anyways). The world of the Divergent is created beautifully, presenting a vibrant world within a desolate Chicago that still thrives. The five factions are easy to tell apart based on their diverse styles amidst the ruinous city. For those who are worried that this is just another teen fantasy film, I must stress again the themes of corruptible society and civil disobedience. It is empowering for young people, and the characters Tris and Four are strong people who overcome a lot of hardships. Their positions in Dauntless force them to face their fears through a simulation program, presenting another major theme - facing your fears. The scenes of Tris fighting off flocks of crows, or being locked in a glass water tank are dream-like and eerie. Perhaps the most creative sequence in the whole film is Tris's aptitude test. She is transcended into a dream-state via a simulation serum, where she is surrounded by mirrors and talks to her own reflection. The sequence is high-tech in its visual execution and was, for me, the most unique sci-fi aspect of the movie.
I remember seeing this delightful little short film when I was in high school and thought it was absolutely bonkers! Such absurd sequences with a fruit declaring "I am a banana!" and a little cloud puff freaking out because his anus is bleeding had my teenage version of myself laughing hysterically at something my parents and teachers would undoubtedly find appalling.
It wasn't until later in my life that I discovered the film had been nominated for an Oscar (Best Animated Short - 2000). I was shocked....and delighted! It reignited my hopes for the Oscars (which have since dropped again to the point I no longer watch them at all), but even more importantly it opened me up to discovering more of Don Hertzfeldt's fine work. In fact, he may be my favorite animation film-maker (Hayao Miyazaki comes close). But let's talk about Rejected.
Watch Rejected here first!
Hertzfeldt's masterful short is clearly a satire on the nature of advertising. The narration describes the work of an animator (Don) who is hired to create commercial work for a number of companies. The eccentric work features absurd characters in surreal scenarios that are all too bizarre for any corporate portrayal and thus get rejected by all the employing firms. By the end of the film, the rejected cartoon world begins to implode due to the mental degradation of the animator's psyche, resulting in the amazing finale. This is where Hertzfeldt's style shines, using the paper itself as a layer to the world - characters go flying out of holes and rips in the paper, ripples in the sheet are like tidal waves, and one character knocks on the medium making cracks as if he is trying to escape. This is surreal comedy at perhaps its best. Given the excellent animation work, the thematic undertones of advertising absurdity, and the memorable and often disturbing jokes ("My spoon is too big!"), I can see why Rejected is award-worthy. Don't you?
