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Bloodlines of music royalty unite in 

THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE QUEEN 

We Love You...Digitally 

HELLO AND WELCOME to the interactive version of Filter Good Music Guide We’re best viewed 

in full-screen mode, so if you can still see the top of the window, please click on the Window menu 

and select Full Screen View (or press Ctrl+L). There you go—that’s much better isn’t it? [Mini 

stretches, yawns, scratches something.] Right. If you know the drill, go ahead and left-click to go forward 

a page; if you forget, you can always right-click to go back one. And if all else fails, intrepid traveler, 

press the Esc key to exit full-screen and return to a life more humble. 

Keep an eye on your cursor. While reading the Guide online, you will notice that there are links on 

every page that allow you to discover more about the artists we write about. Scroll over each page to 

find the hotlinks, click ’em, and find yourself at the websites of the artists we cover, the sponsors who 

help make this happen, and all of the fine places to go to purchase the records you read about here. 

Thank you for your support of this thing we call Filter. Good music, as they say, will prevail. 

— Chris Martins and Pat McGuire, Editors 

Letters, inquiries, randomness: guide@filter-mag.com 

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FILM FESTIVAL 

ISSUE 

#15 • JAN.-FEB. ’07 

Elijah Wood 

Britt Daniel 

Air

info 

THE FILTER MAILBAG 

We get a lot of mail here at the Filter offices—some good, some bad, 

some…well, completely unclassifiable. Send us something strange and 

you might see it here. 

We were tickled rosy to receive a 

bottle of “Bong Vodka,” imported 

direct from the most inebriated 

country we know, Holland. While 

the bottle seems less shaped like a 

bong and more like a large phallus— 

neither of which are pleasant to 

drink from—in the course of some 

very austere research, we discovered 

that the liquor was “smooth,” 

“warming” and “wingly tingly.” 

IN THE GUIDE 

You can download the Filter Good Music Guide at 

filter-mag.com. While there, be sure to check out our 

back-issues (formerly Filter Mini), the latest of which 

features the Mars Volta, Oasis, the Decemberists, TV 

on the Radio, and more. In honor of the 2007 

Sundance Film Festival, Filter has given this issue of 

the Guide a cinematic slant. If you’re planning on 

braving those snow-covered lines in Park City, Utah, be 

sure to keep an eye out for us. We’ll be there. 

ON THE WEB 

Go to filter-mag.com for music news, downloads, contests 

and exclusives, and visit the Filter Blog (blog.filtermag.com) 

for all the rest (interviews, opinions, insider 

information, and an all-around good time). To stay abreast 

of news and events, sign up for the Filter Newsletter, delivered 

weekly to your inbox with the latest info specific to 

your locale. Cities serviced: Los Angeles, New York, 

Seattle, Philadelphia, Dallas, Chicago, Miami, San Francisco, Denver, 

Boston, Portland, Austin, Washington D.C., and London. 

AT THE STANDS 

Out now: Filter Issue 23. Hilarity ensues as The 

Office’s leading man, John Krasinski, teams up 

with pop-rock sweethearts the Shins in sunny 

Hollywood, California. Filter takes a seat next 

to these wise guys to discuss the transformation 

from indie to international, what it means to be 

funny, and the Shins’ latest release, Wincing the 

Night Away. Also, we’re set straight on robots 

and artistic spontaneity by Brian Eno; John 

Lurie takes us fishing with a few of entertainment’s 

most notable characters; Lily Allen 

strikes a pose; Elvis Perkins grants us his first interview; and Stones Throw 

Records throws a barbeque. Plus: Silver Jews, Cold War Kids, Catherine 

Wheel, Jeremy Enigk, Fast Food Nation, Of Montreal, Sondre Lerche, 

Subtle, Fields, and Bootsy Collins, and special appearances from David Cross, 

SNL’s Fred Armisen, Jim Jarmusch, Willem Dafoe and Dennis Hopper. 

CONTACT US 

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by felixfotography.com. We regret the error. 

Publishers 

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Paul Gaita, Patrick James, 

Nevin Martell, Richard Martins, 

Jeremy Moehlmann, 

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Max Read, Sam Roudman, 

Ken Scrudato, Colin Stutz, 

Carrie Tucker, Louis Vlack, 

Mark von Pfeiffer 

Marketing 

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Thank You 

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Filter Good Music Guide is published by Filter 

Magazine LLC, 5908 Barton Ave., Los Angeles 

CA 90038. Vol. 1, No. 15, January/February 2007. 

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© 2007 by Filter Magazine LLC. 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 

FILTER IS PRINTED IN THE USA 

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COVER PHOTO: SOREN STARBIRD

cheat sheet 

Your Guide to Innovations in Entertainment 

Austin City 

Limits Season 32 

If there’s only one thing that geriatrics and hipsters 

can both appreciate, it’s Austin City Limits. The 

public television show renowned for its intimate and 

often rumbustious performances (we defy you to 

think of a better word to describe Wayne Coyne 

swinging a utility light around by the extension cord 

while the Lips play backup to Beck) just wrapped up 

its 32nd season and continues to be America’s longest 

running televised concert series. While the show 

always books established and acclaimed acts, it has 

also acknowledged emerging artists more likely to be 

praised on a blog than found in a dusty vinyl bin. This 

past season glowed with that patent diversity, featuring 

Etta James, Ray Davies, and Van Morrison 

alongside Cat Power, the Raconteurs, Franz 

Ferdinand, and Sufjan Stevens. And by making concert 

downloads available from their annual festival on 

iTunes, this institution is doing even more to reach 

out to the next generation. “My dream would be for 

every minute of every recorded performance we’ve 

ever done to be available to download,” says veteran 

ACL producer Terry Lickona. “We need to open the 

doors to our archives; it’s a treasure chest of 

American music and beyond.” DAN FRAZIER 

Pzizz 

Wake up, eat, work, eat, sleep, repeat. Wake 

up, eat, work, eat, sleep, repeat. Stressed 

out? Tired? Unmotivated? Well say hello to 

your new best friend and “personal life 

coaching system,” Pzizz. Developed by 

Britain’s Brainwave Enterprises, Pzizz uses a 

complex algorithm to generate unique sleepenhancing 

soundscapes (ambience + voice) 

and broadcast them from iPod to ear. The 

program’s current modules include “Sleep” 

(designed to switch you off at the end of the 

day) and “Energize” (to put you down and 

then pick you up with one of those fancy 

power naps Da Vinci, Beethoven and 

Einstein were always yakking about), each of which run for a user-defined 

length of time, from 10 to 60 minutes. Just download (pzizz.com), generate 

your ideal track, and bump those binaural beats all the way to dreamland. 

Finally, we can be fitter, happier, and more productive. COLIN STUTZ 

Dimeadozen.org 

Welcome to a seemingly endless supply of live recordings from bands and singers of nearly every stripe. 

Dimeadozen.org is a BitTorrent peer-to-peer network designed for (and upheld by) the music completist. Here 

unreleased performances are traded at will, as long as users adhere to a lengthy “banned” list (alternate recordings 

of otherwise officially released performances are outlawed alongside those simply of poor quality; artists 

that wish to opt out may do so). The variety is impressive, and the ability to listen to old favorites (from Abba, 

the Beatles and Costello to Zevon) at your favorite point in their respective careers is unparalleled. Also 

enticing is the imposing array of material from modern troubadours like Jim James and Conor Oberst. These 

aren’t your average dorm-room copyright violators; Dimeadozen.org has tapped into an underground network 

of gem-salvaging audiophiles dedicated to bringing these shows back to the masses. RICHARD MARTINS 

Sundance 

Global Short 

Film Project 

for Mobile 

Robert Redford has given us so much over the 

years: The Sting, The Natural, The Horse 

Whisperer and one of the funniest episodes of 

South Park in recent memory. Now, the 

Sundance Kid and his Park City pardners give 

us the “Global Short Film Project.” While it 

might sound like some sinister master plan to 

take over the world through a series of brainwashing 

vignettes, it’s actually an extension of 

the acclaimed indie film festival served 

straight to your cell phone. Instead of getting 

the overplayed Chamillionaire videos or Lost 

reruns that are the norm for handheld multimedia 

content, this project has six indie filmmakers (including Little Miss Sunshine’s Jonathan 

Dayton and Valerie Faris) creating original three to five-minute films intended specifically for 

mobile movie-watching. It’s just like Sundance, minus the hordes of Starbucks-sipping studio 

execs and Sidekick-tapping starlets. BRYAN CHENAULT 

Yes.com 

There’s nothing worse than 

hearing a really kickass song on 

the radio, then craning an ear for 

the title while the person in the 

passenger seat insensibly rattles 

on. Time and time again, we find 

ourselves singing generic riffs 

(“Da-da-da-da, nah-nah-nahnah…”) 

to friends/co-workers/ 

anyone who’ll listen in desperate 

hope of tracking down the artist 

who anonymously blessed our 

ears. Fortunately, the Internet 

has the solution: Yes.com is a 

service that allows users to type in 

the call letters of a radio station 

and receive a listing of every song 

that the station has played in the 

last week, down to the exact minute. Lists are updated as soon as the tune hits 

the air and include links to purchase the music online. Yes.com also provides 

handy pages that itemize the nationwide plays of tracks by a specific artist, and 

if you’re lucky, you might be able to hear your favorite artist coming in loud 

and clear from the town you grew up in. EWAN ANDERSON 

4 FILTER GOOD MUSIC GUIDE 

GOOD MUSIC GUIDE FILTER 4

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Air’s Guide 

to Paris, France 

BY SAM ROUDMAN 

IT PAINS ME DEEPLY TO SAY IT, but the French are cooler than us. Not better, not smarter, and certainly not 

stronger: just cooler. Rolling down Rue Saint whatever-the-fuck with their baguette in one pocket and a white flag 

in the other, there’s no way for us hot dog-chomping, petroleum-slurpers to aspire to even a fractional portion of 

their elegance. We are Pert Plus; they are Vidal Sassoon. And it’s time to deal with it. 

Luckily, hope for reconciliation is not lost (remember: they’re the black turtle-necked existentialists; we’re the 

nation of puppy-dog optimists). Take Air, a well-conditioned French duo dealing in calm and supremely tasteful 

electronic whimsy for almost a decade now. Recently, Nicolas Godin and JB Dunckel were polite enough to guide 

the Guide through the best of their native Paris, marking a new era of Franco-American warm fuzziness, if not 

perfect communication or correct syntax. Nonetheless, let the healing begin. 

The Best… 

…museum to visit? 

JB: I like a lot the Centre Georges Pompidou. You have 

some artistic expeditions [exhibitions], and it changes 

every two months, and recently I saw this marvelous 

expedition about the artist Yves Klein. He is a French 

artist from the late ’50s who invented this very famous 

blue color. So you have some beautiful expeditions, and 

also you can visit the bibliothèque, where you can read 

some books and find out many, many things, and on the 

last floor you have this marvelous restaurant, called the 

Georges restaurant, with this beautiful view of Paris. 

…historical site? 

Nicolas: Not too original, but I would say the Louvre. 

It’s like a sanctuary where I feel protected from the rest 

of the world and nothing can happen and time is 

mashed up. It’s magic and romantic and enigmatic, and 

so many beautiful arts, you know? It’s where I used to 

go when I was kid all the time. 

…area for French fashion? 

JB: Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. On this street you 

have all the big luxurious marks—like, you know, Prada, 

Dior—and the waiters [store attendants] are really nice; 

you can try the clothes. Usually in June and July they 

can have discounts, and they have all the good stuff. 

…place to get crêpes? 

JB: To get a what? 

Crêpes? 

JB: A what—sorry? 

Umm…the pancakes they put fillings in? 

JB: Ohhh [laughs]. I know a place, in the fourth 

arrondissement, in the fourth district of Paris. It’s called 

Le Fleur Mariage. I think it’s pretty well-known. Do 

you know the Mariage Tea? 

Oh, yeah [total lie]. 

JB: You go there, you choose some teas, and have some 

really, really nice cake. There’s teas from everywhere in 

the world. It’s peaceful and good. They have a really 

nice coffee and croissant or pain au chocolat. 

…venue for a show? 

Nicolas: I would say the Trabendo, because this is 

where you can see all the new bands that are big 

enough—the new bands that are on their way. I go 

there every week to get some inspiration because 

they are fresh. 

…late-night lounge? 

JB: I know a very nice nightclub called Le Pulp, like the 

band Pulp. And it’s a lesbian place. You go at night, you 

have a lot of lesbians. But Thursday night, it’s heterosexual, 

and they have some DJs playing some really, really, 

trendy, strange dancing music: new wave electronic rock 

stuff. It is really great because there is a nice atmosphere. 

…music shop? 

Nicolas: Man, there were hundreds of them, and 

fucking eBay fucked up everything. There’s this street 

in Paris called Rue de Douai and that’s where all the 

music shops are—like 50 or 60 music shops. So this is 

the place to find synthesizers, all the Moogs and all the 

Rolands. Of course, now it’s all on eBay. 

…view of the Eiffel Tower? 

Nicolas: I would say my apartment [laughs]. You’d be welcome 

to come, but you’d have to be really nice with me. 

Really? 

Nicolas: Yeah. F 



He’s a Believer! 

Elijah Wood Puts on a Monkey Suit 

BY PATRICK JAMES 

A SMOKING-HOT GYPSY-PUNK GIRLFRIEND and an outspoken affinity for Billy Corgan aside, as far as the 

music world is concerned, Elijah Wood is just like the rest of us: a fan. At least he was, until he recently became 

an exec. In a collaborative effort with a revived Elephant 6 Collective, Mr. Wood will release the latest album from 

the Apples in Stereo this February on his newly founded and aptly named Simian Records. We say “aptly named” 

for a number of reasons, not the least of which being that the first cassette he ever owned was The Best of the 

Monkees, which, by his own admission, he “wore the shit out of.” Here the Guide called on Mr. Wood, a man of 

literate rock virtu and exceeding passion for all things musical, to shed some light on all this monkey business. 

What’s new at Simian headquarters? 

I’m actually in the editing room at the moment finishing 

up an Apples in Stereo video. 

Video? So you’re quite involved in every facet 

of Simian. 

Well, it was never going to be a vanity project. I’ll definitely 

be involved in as much of the process as makes 

sense. 

Getting your hands dirty, as they say. 

I don’t know if I’m going to get my hands fully dirty. It’s 

extremely important to know when to step back. It’s not 

my record. I just want to facilitate the band. The whole 

interest in wanting to do this in the first place was 

simply out of love of music and wanting to put out 

music that I believe in. 

Why call the label Simian? 

It relates to my childhood. When I was younger, my 

mom referred to me as a monkey because I would 

climb into cupboards and was constantly scaling things. 

That monkey theme has carried throughout my life. 

And the name is relatively benign in that it doesn’t necessarily 

make reference to any specific kind of music. It 

doesn’t really speak for the themes of the label. It’s just 

a word, almost totally detached from meaning. When I 

conceived of doing this, I wanted the label to be indicative 

of my taste, which is kind of all over the place. 

Give us some examples. 

Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of old soul, like Irma 

Thomas and Etta James. Betty Davis. Also a lot of 

blues; I recently discovered Hound Dog, and that stuff 

is fucking incredible. I love Field Music, the band from 

England. I saw Witchcraft the other night, so I’ve been 

listening to them lately. 

So you’re not chasing any particulars? 

If I found or discovered a really incredible bluegrass 

singer-songwriter tomorrow and I thought it was awesome, 

I’d release that. There’s a band out of New York 

called Eloise & the Savoir Faire that I’m a huge fan of. 

We’re planning on a full-length record and probably a 

preliminary EP with them. It’s nice to begin work on 

something else beyond the Apples because they were a 

finished product. To start something with Eloise is really 

exciting. And it’s a totally different kind of music. I think, 

largely, categorizing music has always been a bit tired. 

Like, for instance, the “indie” genre? 

The thing that’s frustrating about people referring to 

bands as indie is that people have forgotten what it 

actually means. There are a lot of bands on major labels 

who are being referred to as indie bands. That’s definitely 

the case with “emo.” People started going apeshit 

for that term and then emo was done. 

Apeshit indeed. Does that mean indie is done? 

It’s not going anywhere. As long as there’s quoteunquote 

independent music, there will always be the 

label. 

And you’re not leery of starting Simian at a time 

when Tower Records is going out of business? 

We’re slowly approaching the end of an era, but I feel 

like music itself is being, and will always be, distributed. 

So the means don’t really matter? 

Well…not as much. There’s nothing that anybody can 

really do about it. It matters, and I really hope we don’t see 

the loss of the record store for the same reason that I don’t 

want to see the loss of the movie theatre. Going to a record 

store and talking to a clerk and getting a recommendation 

is so much more meaningful than getting a recommendation 

from iTunes. But Amoeba Records in Los Angeles is 

constantly packed. Constantly. I don’t see it truly dying off 

anytime soon. F 



Gimme 

Strange 

Fiction 

Talkin’ Movie Music with Britt Daniel 

BY BRYAN CHENAULT 

IF YOU’VE SEEN THE LATEST Will Ferrell-as-lovable-dolt flick, Stranger Than Fiction (or even the trailer), 

it’s about as hard to escape Spoon’s signature sound as it is for the protagonist to escape his literary fate. You can 

thank ex-Redd Kross drummer/music supervisor/Sofia Coppola secret weapon Brian Reitzell, who scores the film 

with four Spoon songs (including one original) and three instrumental collaborations helmed by Spoon master 

Britt Daniel himself. The Guide caught Britt in the studio in Austin to discuss movie music, the genius of Solaris 

and the weird science behind the Gimme Fiction follow-up, tentatively titled Stroke Their Brains (one must 

imagine Daniel saying this in depraved Igor voice). 

So what makes a good soundtrack? 

Usually I actually don’t want to listen to them, because they 

seem like a thrown-together batch of songs that don’t have 

any relation to one another and don’t have any pacing. It’s 

like, for financial reasons, these songs are going to need to 

be collected. A good soundtrack has to be a consistent 

batch that you want to hear together, like any album. 

How did you become involved in this project? 

Brian got in touch with me maybe three years ago and 

we talked about at some point working on some instrumental 

music together. We discovered that we were 

both obsessed with the Solaris soundtrack—a film most 

people can’t stand, but I thought was amazing—and I 

think the music had a lot to do with that. The score to 

Solaris is really unique, emotional and affecting, but it’s 

slow, just like the movie. I tried to turn my girlfriend 

and my bandmates on to the soundtrack, and everybody 

that heard it was like, “Eh, yeah…it’s fine, I 

guess.” But Brian was equally obsessed with it. Once he 

started working on this movie about a year ago, he 

asked if I could come down. He had already put a 

bunch of Spoon songs in the movie, so it was like being 

in charge of a big chunk of the music. 

How was the writing process different? 

Instead of just a free-form, totally abstract situation 

where you’re writing a new song that has no anchor, 

there were very specific things that needed to happen 

with the music, so it actually seemed kind of easier 

than writing a pop song. 

So is there a post-Spoon career for you in 

scoring films, a la Stewart Copeland? 

[Deadpan] There is no post-Spoon. [Laughs] Yeah 

maybe, I don’t know. It was really fun to do, but my 

main concern is rock and roll. 

Was “The Book I Write” a leftover from Gimme 

Fiction or something new? 

Brian wanted a new Spoon song on the soundtrack, 

and I played him several old sketches and that was 

the one that worked best for a kind of end-of-movie 

tune. 

So the title is just a coincidence? 

Yeah. We both were a little weary of using something 

so literal: Is it going to be too goofy or is it perfect or 

what? In the end we just decided to go with it. 

Is this the first time you’ve done any composing? 

For a big thing, yeah. I think I tried composing once 

before for a friend’s film, but it didn’t work out. 

And this time around? 

I had read the script, and then when I went to visit 

Brian in L.A. the first thing I did was watch a rough 

edit of the movie as it was at that time. He just 

pointed out which scenes still needed music or 

instrumental cues, and then we went through one by 

one and talked about what each scene needed. We 

had our direction: this one needs to make you feel 

like this, this one needs to make you feel that. 

If you were acting in a film, and could have your 

own bit of theme music playing every time you 

entered a scene—think Shaft or Superfly—what 

would it be? 

Maybe the first few seconds from Sketches of Spain. 

That first song, with the castanets going…that would 

be so cool. 

What seems to be influencing the new record? 

King Tubby. And there’s this Swedish band called 

Peter Bjorn & John; I really like their production. 

Mid-period Prince records. And Johnny Mathis, of 

course. F 

Britt Daniel’s Five Favorite Soundtracks 

AUTUMN DEWILDE 

Solaris 

(2002) 

The Harder They 

Come (1972) 

Marie Antoinette 

(2006) 

Urban Cowboy 

(1980) 

Rushmore 

(1998) 



FOUR MUSICIANS WALK INTO A ROOM and plug in. There’s a hum in the air, an electricity 

that’s impossible to fake. Between them, these unassuming looking fellows have helped shape some 

of the greatest records of all time: London Calling, Parklife, Urban Hymns, Fela Kuti’s Progress… 

A gathering this impressive is the musical equivalent of the dinners Gertrude Stein hosted in Paris 

for the likes of Hemingway and Fitzgerald. Brought together by Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz) in 

the spring of 2005, they are a nameless collective (an oblique homage to freeform jazz musicians, 

“The Good, the Bad & the Queen” is the name of the project, not the band) composed of Albarn, 

Clash bassist Paul Simonon, the Verve guitarist Simon Tong, Afrobeat legend Tony Allen on drums, 

and Danger Mouse behind the mixing desk. 

Unlike some of the supercrap “supergroups” that have been foisted upon the listening public in 

the past few years (Velvet Revolver and Audioslave, take note) these guys aren’t trying to cash in on 

their former glories. Their debut, The Good, the Bad & the Queen, is a studied and compelling collection 

of tunes that are distinctly uninterested in synthesizing previous hits into radio-friendly unitshifters. 

The lyrics relish in the bleakness of the English experience, while slinking along on slow 

grooves perfectly shaped for chilling out. It’s a heady combination, a post-modern cocktail of 

dubbed-out beats, hipster melodies and sly social commentary. 

The day of our interview, the group is scattered across England, lounging in their respective 

homes, studios and crashpads. All of them are a little fried after a long day of appeasing the promotion 

machine, but nonetheless they’re all warm and forthright. 

BY NEVIN MARTELL + PHOTOS BY SOREN STARBIRD 

10 FILTER GOOD MUSIC GUIDE GOOD MUSIC GUIDE FILTER 10

How did the four of you end up in a room 

together? 

Simon Tong: When Graham [Coxon] left Blur, I filled 

in for him on the tour for Think Tank, which then led to 

the Mali Music album [a compilation of African sessions 

hosted by Albarn] and working on Gorillaz with Damon. 

So, we’ve been knocking around together for a while. 

Tony Allen: On the Blur song “Music Is My Radar” 

[from The Best of Blur] Damon sang about Tony Allen 

getting him dancing and that caught my attention. So I 

invited him to sing on my album HomeCooking. That was 

a very good experience and some time after that I asked 

him to come down to my studio in Nigeria and he brought 

Simon, who I didn’t know, but I liked him immediately. 

Paul Simonon: After the Nigeria sessions, Damon 

thought they needed another ingredient and maybe I 

was the cure. I went down to the studio and listened to 

some tracks, then spent the rest of the time talking with 

Damon about our lives and the books we’re interested 

in. We discovered that we’re neighbors, figuratively 

speaking. We basically just started jamming and 

playing, which just turned into what you hear now. 

Damon Albarn: Growing up, I was never the rock and 

roll guy. I listened to Arabic, African and Indian music, 

so this record is an extension of my interest in less 

Western forms of pop music. 

What was that first time together like? 

Paul: We soon realized we had to turn down rather 

than turn up. With the sound down, everyone could 

really hear what everyone else was playing. It was an 

ego-less way of making music. 

Simon: It wasn’t instantaneous in the sense that we 

wrote an amazing song the first day together, but we 

knew from the first few moments that there was something 

special going on. 

What was the first song you guys wrote that 

made you realize that you’d come up with 

something completely your own? 

Paul: “History Song” was the first we all did together 

and it partly defined our sound. It came about by us sitting 

in Damon’s studio, hitting the record button and 

then seeing what happened. Everyone brought their 

musical luggage into that room, so it was all very organic. 

Why did you decide to not come up with a name? 

Paul: When you’re 17 years old and you’re just starting 

out, it’s the attitude of having a name that unifies you. 

The album’s title comes from a lyric on the last song 

and it’s a reflection on the nation as a whole. I’m not 

one of those flag-wavers; I’m an internationalist. 

Unfortunately, there are a lot of things that I don’t 

stand by my government doing over the last couple of 

years, so it was our way of commenting on that. 

Damon, you do melancholy so well. Songs like 

“Kingdom of Doom” and “Northern Whale” are 

certainly no exception. 

Damon: I do write songs that are sad, but they do have 

a sense of humor. Well, not all of them; some of them 

have no sense of humor at all. It’s an English thing. 

Look at Gorillaz, the bloody album’s called Demon 

Days. That’s why they’re such a lethal combination, 

because I don’t think people can resist the cartoons and 

sadness. They work together beautifully. 

I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t ask about 

the future of your simian alter-egos and Blur. 

Damon: There may be another Blur album at some 

point. All the stars have to be aligned and Venus has to 

be in ascendance. As far as Gorillaz, we really would 

like to do a feature film. We’ve actually started, but 

who knows how many years before we finish it. We’re 

talking philosophy, films and the state of the world 

with [Monty Python and 12 Monkeys director] Terry 

Gilliam, so I’m sure some of his mad genius would 

find his way in there. 

Sounds like there’s a lot going on in your world. 

Damon: There’s always madness. That’s just the way 

it is. F 

The Gang’s All Here 

The Guide asked the GBQ crew for their all-time favorite character archetypes. 

GOOD GUYS? 

Robin Hood was my childhood hero, because he took from the rich 

and gave to the poor. — Paul 

I like the good guys who are the voices inside all of us, constantly 

trying to be heard above the din of evil catalysts. — Damon 

BAD GUYS? 

Jack Palance in Shane is quintessential. — Paul 

It’s very hard to identify villains, because they’re usually doing the 

work of other villains. Who is truly the top villain? Is George Bush a 

villain or is he just a puppet? If I had to choose one though, the 

Penguin always seemed like a good cold-hearted bad guy. Excuse the pun. — Damon 

QUEENS? 

I’m more of a Republican [i.e. anti-monarchy], so I’m not good with queens and kings. — Paul 

Marc Almond of Soft Cell, for sure. Tunes like “Tainted Love” and “Bedsitter” are classics. — Simon 

11 FILTER GOOD MUSIC GUIDE GOOD MUSIC GUIDE FILTER 11

One-Liners: A miniature take on selected Filter Magazine reviews 

........................................................................................................................... 

(Go to Filter-Mag.com or pick up Filter Magazine’s Holiday Issue for full reviews of the albums covered here.) 

Reviews 

........................................................................................................................... 

DEERHOOF 

Friend Opportunity 91% 

KILL ROCK STARS 

A beautifully crafted puzzle of WTF? 

delivered by art rock’s most eccentric 

and eclectic squad. 

120 DAYS 

120 Days 

90% 

VICE 

A post-punk, post-rave, post-pre- 

Armageddon masterpiece of sleazy, 

chaos-worshipping industrial rock. 

TOM WAITS 

Orphans... 

90% 

ANTI- 

Good, sad and ugly: three discs that testify 

to Wait’s immortal junky brilliance. 

CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH 

Some Loud Thunder 89% 

CYHSY kick in the speaker cones and 

bang out a bloody mix of F-you aimed 

at the sophomore slump. 

JOANNA NEWSOM 

Ys 

89% 

DRAG CITY 

An award-worthy original, bewildering 

and jaw-dropping, ambitious 

and awesome. 

THE WALKMEN 

Pussy Cats 

89% 

RECORD COLLECTION 

N.Y.C.’s best-known boozehounds find 

success covering a cover record, paying 

homage to Lennon, Nilsson and themselves. 

WILLIE NELSON 

Songbird 

89% 

LOST HIGHWAY 

With the help of Ryan Adams, our 

drug-busted hero surprises with his 

most relevant record in recent memory. 

SWAN LAKE 

Swan Lake 

87% 

JAGJAGUWAR 

Canada produces yet another experimental 

indie supergroup: one part New 

Pornos, one part Wolf Parade, one part Frog Eyes. 

MALAJUBE 

Trompe-L’Oeil 

86% 

DARE TO CARE 

Canada keeps gate-crashing, and this 

time it’s francophones with an affinity 

for well-layered indie-rock. Sacré Bleu! 

PJ HARVEY 

The Peel Sessions... 86% 

ISLAND 

High expectations are met with moderate 

results, leaving a lesson learned: 

Stick to your own blues, sister. 

YOUTH GROUP 

Casino Twilight Dogs 84% 

ANTI- 

Taking cues from The O.C.’s dramatic 

flare, these Aussies aren’t about to reinvent 

rock for the sweater set. 

GOLDFRAPP 

We Are Glitter 82% 

MUTE 

G-Frapp sets the abstinence movement 

back a couple years via a collection of 

club-humping remixes. 

…TRAIL OF DEAD 

So Divided 

80% 

INTERSCOPE 

The ever grandiloquent TOD deliver a 

masterfully woven set of almosts. 

DAMIEN RICE 

9 

77% 

WARNER 

A hard, depressing listen accessible 

only if your girlfriend just died in a 

puppy-related car crash. 

FILTER 

ALBUM 

RATINGS 

TENACIOUS D 

The Pick of Destiny 61% 

EPIC 

They are not angels; they are but men, 

and men do make mistakes. 

91-100% a great album 

81-90% above par, below genius 

71-80% respectable, but flawed 

61-70% not in my CD player 

Below 60% please God, tell us why 

OF MONTREAL 

Hissing Fauna, Are 86% 

You the Destroyer? 

POLYVINYL 

If last year’s sublime Sunlandic Twins 

was Kevin Barnes’ ode to “Oslo in the Summertime,” 

Hissing Fauna recalls his Winter of Discontent. Listen 

closely and you’ll hear the cause and effect of a fragile 

figure who, put quite simply, lost his shit during 

Norway’s harshest season. While lyrically much more 

personal/much less playful than anything prior, the 

album’s shiny, happy electro-pop (complete with 

Barnes’ usual bells + whistles, white funk and dance 

beats) serves as the sun finally melting all that snow. 

BRYAN CHENAULT 

RJD2 

The Third Hand 90% 

XL 

Artistic about-faces are hard to come 

by, and—for the most part—even 

harder to listen to, but God bless the exception. RJ has 

ditched all the melodic soul samples, pretty much 

ignoring the edifice of instrumental hip-hop to which 

his previous Def Jux releases have been pillars. The 

one-man result: breezy soul tracks with pop structures, 

chill vocals and a grab bag of flourishes recalling everything 

from McCartney to Prince. It’s not hip-hop, but 

it’s got flow. SAM ROUDMAN 

VARIOUS ARTISTS 

Fast Food Nation OST 81% 

PARK THE VAN 

What’s more American than the road 

trip? Well, maybe hamburgers, french 

fries and milk shakes, but thanks to Fast Food Nation, 

those are out. That’s where the Friends of Dean 

Martinez, Spoon, Elvis Perkins and the rest of this 

soundtrack’s players come in—sorta. While this collection 

might be fit for a midnight drive through Malibu or 

smuggling migrant workers across the border, removed 

from the big screen this compilation struggles for new 

context to latch onto. COLIN STUTZ 

SLOAN 

Never Hear the End of It 87% 

YEP ROC 

Like a Beatles “best of” that no one had 

discovered, Sloan’s eighth LP, Never 

Hear the End of It, packs a mammoth 30 tracks onto 

one thrill-filled disc. This embarrassment of riches is 

the disc’s greatest strength—even the tracks that come 

and go in less than a minute could be cornerstones of a 

decent album—but also its weakness, as the shiniest 

gems lose their sheen in light of the album’s grand 

scale. EWAN ANDERSON 

book 

South Park and 87% 

Philosophy 

Edited by Robert Arp 

BLACKWELL 

For all the yammering, blabbering 

punditry flashing daily 

across our screens, Trey Parker 

and Matt Stone’s animated juggernaut 

never fails to intellectually 

obliterate them all, from the tree-huggers to 

the gay-bashers to the maniacal world leaders. 

Fittingly, here, several modern philosophers 

charmingly pontificate on the show’s brilliant, thinly 

veiled riffs on existentialism, libertarianism, “genethics” 

and even the eternal “problem of evil.” By 

the end, you can’t help but think South Park may, 

indeed, be our last line of defense against total 

oblivion. Sweet. KEN SCRUDATO 

N.W.A. 

The Strength of Street 78% 

Knowledge: The Best of N.W.A. 

CAPITOL/PRIORITY 

No, N.W.A. didn’t invent gangsta rap; 

they just made it impossible for white people to ignore. 

While the threatened raised hell over the hell-raising 

sound, the true followers—black, white or other— 

knew that Ice Cube’s ferocious rhymes and the depth of 

Dr. Dre’s production made the music too good to overlook. 

Unfortunately, any attempt to contain the 

strength of N.W.A. in a single disc caters to the terrified 

rubber-neckers more than the aficionados, though the 

DVD footage of the boys drinking 40s in the studio 

almost justifies the purchase. MAX READ 

SONDRE LERCHE 

Phantom Punch 88% 

ASTRALWERKS 

I gotta admit: I kinda have a man crush 

on Sondre Lerche. And lately, with 

Phantom Punch, the Nordic wunderkind is more at 

ease indulging his global pop fetishes than ever before. 

Whether it’s hand-clapping robot disco, swirling Bossa 

Nova surrealism or coffee shop acoustic confessions, 

Lerche croons and swoons between styles like a 

prophet of postmodern pomp. Subtract the droning 

moper “Happy Birthday Girl,” and I’d finally have the 

balls to ask him to prom. PHIL EASTMAN 



THE APPLES IN STEREO 

New Magnetic Wonder 86% 

SIMIAN 

Who knew that the Apples in Stereo 

would still be working their pop skills a 

decade after the Elephant 6 sound hit? While most of 

the movement’s first wave have settled into the sidelines, 

Apples’ Robert Schneider has continued to hack 

away at the ins-and-outs of the most perfect psychedelic 

pop formations ever, and New Magnetic Wonder 

offers proof. “Can You Feel It” is so full of energy that 

Daft Punk could have penned it, and “7 Stars” is watertight 

in Beach Boys/Beatles stylization and form. The 

orchard’s still bloomin’. JONATHAN PRUETT 

SONIC YOUTH 

The Destroyed Room 91% 

GEFFEN 

Referencing the 25-minute mindfuckingly 

good rendering of “The 

Diamond Sea” that appears on The Destroyed 

Room—an impeccably selected hodgepodge of 

experimental B-sides from 1994 to 2003—Sonic 

Youth notes in their liner that the track was “probably 

the culmination of [their] wanting to blur the 

lines between composition and improvisation.” 

Maybe it is. But the blurry saga of a song (which 

closed each night of 1995’s Lollapalooza) is also one 

of 11 reminders of Sonic Youth’s perennial curve-setting 

greatness. PATRICK JAMES 

dvd 

92% 

Nirvana: Live! 

Tonight! Sold Out! 

GEFFEN 

Chuck those shitty bootlegs; this is 

the long out-of-print document of 

Nirvana’s ’91-’92 tour behind 

Nevermind, in its entirety and positively 

up to its scruffy neck in nail-biting live performances 

and interviews. Sixteen tunes, plus five 

from a show in Amsterdam (and a hidden ’91 

rehearsal perf of “On a Plain”) make this as good a 

document of the band’s sonic power as one can 

hope for. PAUL GAITA 

MENOMENA 

Friend and Foe 89% 

BARSUK 

It took a while, but indie rock is 

finally moving into the realm of hifidelity. 

Menomena, working with a program called 

Deeler—described as “a glorified guitar-loop 

pedal”—creates songs that leap beyond simple 

verse/chorus/bridge arrangements into a realm of 

complex post-rock compositions with savant-like 

vocal wails over cacophonic guitars cutting chords 

into broken shards that sever the bass and drum 

interplay just enough to squeeze in staccato horn 

stabs. [Whew.] Ranging from the epic to the under- 

stated, Menomena manages to be innovative and 

accessible. KEVIN FRIEDMAN 

VARIOUS ARTISTS 

Music from the OC Mix 6: 85% 

Covering Our Tracks 

WARNER 

Consider this mix another in a long line 

of The O.C. inside jokes. The premise is indie bands 

covering other bands’ indie songs (most of which— 

songs and bands—have been previously used in the 

show). Given the anonymity of some of the artists and 

the recent popularity of most of the original versions, 

this comp is completely unnecessary and over-the-top. 

Of course, that is trademark O.C. territory, and when 

Band of Horses does the New Year’s “The End’s Not 

Near,” even outsiders will revel in the excess like a seasoned 

Newpsie. JEREMY MOEHLMANN 

book 

Bling: The Hip-Hip 82% 

Jewelry Book 

By Reggie Ossé and 

Gabriel Tolliver 

BLOOMSBURY 

Though this paper celebration of 

diamond-encrusted gold-plated excess seems custommade 

to line the shelves of an Urban Outfitters near 

you, a genuinely curious reader wouldn’t be too ironic in 

having this on her/his coffee table. Naturally there’s a fair 

share of unwitty and predictable exclamatory blurbs 

accompanying the dazzling photos (“His grill is so 

dope!”), but the comedy sometimes hits (James 

Bond’s arch-nemesis Jaws makes a cameo) and the 

research can’t be beat with a golden scepter 

(chronologies, definitions, and interviews with dentists, 

jewelers, rappers and taggers). LOUIS VLACK 

DEAN & BRITTA 

Back Numbers 86% 

ZOË 

Former Luna frontman Dean Wareham 

and bassist Britta Phillips cull elements 

from ’60s Europop and ’70s soft rock to craft an album as 

sweet and intimate as pillow talk in the first flush of new 

romance. No longer the sly ironist, Dean brings a welcome 

warmth to his flirtatious vocal interplay with Britta, 

who at last emerges from her partner’s shadow. Subdued 

guitar work and sleepy rhythms provide a solid underpinning 

for the airy melodies, keeping them from drifting 

away like freshly-blown bubbles. ANTHONY RAYBORN 

THE EARLIES 

The Enemy Chorus 83% 

SECRETLY CANADIAN 

Long distance relationships are a bitch, 

but on rare occasions that physical gap 

breeds unity over separation. Such has apparently been

the case with the Earlies, whose members are split 

between Texas and northern England. Thanks to technology, 

that 5,000-mile gap is bridged with a shared 

love for progressive psychedelic folk rock and mutual 

dedication to the cause. Here, on their sophomore LP, 

these pen pals have dotted their Is and crossed their Ts 

flowing in and out of tracks that appropriately run the 

line of both personal and distant. COLIN STUTZ 

dvd 

87% 

Dynamic: 1 – 

The Best of 

DavidLynch.com 

SUBVERSIVE 

Those who didn’t want to pony 

up to view Lynch’s original 

short films and animation on 

his web site can check out two 

hours’ worth of his mindexpanding 

material on this disc. In addition to 

seven films, you also get footage of Lynch building 

a lamp, a short with his son Austin, and a creep-o 

mini-feature with Jordan Ladd and Cerina Vincent 

from Cabin Fever, as well as Lynch answering 

questions posed to him by site members. Like a 

kiss in the dark, it’s quick, bewildering, and entirely 

memorable. PAUL GAITA 

BABYSHAMBLES 

The Blinding EP 31% 

EMI 

Amid the drugs, arrests, court 

appearances and subsequent tabloid 

overexposure, it’s easy to forget that Pete Doherty is 

even in a band. The Blinding EP merely confirms 

that even Pete has forgotten, with brief flashes of 

talent only serving as a sad reminder that the ability 

is there, as in the glam-rock stomp of the title track, 

but woefully underutilized. The result is an EP of 

filler material (an embarrassing concept), taking the 

garage rock aesthetic of the Libertines into the 

realm of self-parody. EWAN ANDERSON 

ARBOURETUM 

Rites of Uncovering 90% 

THRILL JOCKEY 

Baltimore’s Dave Heumann has 

played with Will Oldham, Cass 

McCombs, members of Lungfish and David Pajo, but 

despite the impressive guest list, not once are we kept 

from seeing his band Arbouretum for the trees. The 

star here is Heumann, who wrote all the songs and 

flexes his folk rock guitar-god chops on several 8- 

minute-plus jams like “Sleep of Shiloam” and “Pale 

Rider Blues.” The songs titles aren’t the only things 

that sound like Oldham, but trust me, you’d be right 

to uncover this one. PAT MCGUIRE 

EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER 

The Essential Emerson, 75% 

Lake & Palmer 

SHOUT! FACTORY 

The Cliff’s Notes to Emerson Lake & 

Palmer’s 20-minute suite “Tarkus”: an armadillo-tank 

hybrid named Tarkus is born in an ancient volcano, 

fights a manticore, dies, and is reborn as Aquatarkus. 

Let me make it simple: if that sounded vomit-inducingly 

irritating, don’t even bother. If it sounded like the 

coolest thing you’ve ever heard, go out and get The 

Essential ELP and enter a world where “taste,” “subtlety” 

and “restraint” have no meaning. MAX READ 

LONEY, DEAR 

Loney, Noir 

86% 

SUB POP 

You know the kind of sex that’s not 

fucking so much as lovemaking? The 

kind that starts out so slow and gentle you’re not even 

sure that it’s going to progress to actual intercourse but 

once it does, there’s not only tenderness there but also a 

sadness, as if all the joy of love was wrapped up with eventual 

heartbreak, yet you do it anyway because it makes 

you feel alive? That’s Loney, Dear. (To say that this disc is 

merely great “psych-folk from Sweden” would be to 

ignore its more, um, intimate qualities.) BENJY EISEN 

dvd 

ELVIS COSTELLO & 

ALLEN TOUSSAINT 

Hot as a Pistol, 89% 

Keen as a Blade 

HIP-O 

Riveting DVD of the 

shouldn’t-work-but-it-does 

pairing of Elvis Costello and 

New Orleans writer/producer 

extraordinaire Allen Toussaint 

as they work out tunes from their superior collaboration, 

The River in Reverse, as well as material from their 

own classic songbooks before an audience in Montreal. 

Costello adds fire and grit to Toussaint’s groove, and the 

Crescent City legend heightens the dark and bitterlovely 

soul of Costello’s work with his arrangements. 

Extras include an in-studio spin through “Alison,” interviews, 

and Costello’s tour diary. PAUL GAITA 

LILY ALLEN 

Alright, Still 

88% 

EMI 

It’s odd listening to Lily Allen when it’s 

30 degrees outside. A saucy mix of 

twee, calypso, dancehall and grime-ish raps, Alright, 

Still is a seeping, heaving summer album through and 

through, with Allen’s sweet voice managing to make 

everything sound wholesome, even when she’s singing 

of “bitches” and “lazy asses,” or conceding, “Alright, 

buy us a drink then.” But if I turn my heat up really 

high and sit around in my undies while drinking 

daiquiris and blasting fuck-off track “Knock ’Em Out,” 

thanks to Lily, it feels like July again. CARRIE TUCKER 

HELLA 

There’s No 666 in Outerspace 78% 

IPECAC 

Meet the newly revamped Hella, known 

for years as two guys—Spencer Selm, 

Zach Hill—whose sobbingly brilliant melding of the 

Minutemen and Don Caballero made progressive punkjazz 

sound like the best idea in the world. On 666, the 

duo’s become a five-piece, with a real singer whose 

Bixler/Enigk croon makes this heady brew an easy-enough 

swallow for new recruits. No one outside of Lightning Bolt 

can pound their away into an infernal abyss of rhythmless 

funk like these guys, but Hella’s old guard are likely to be 

wicked pissed. JONATHAN PRUETT 

THE TWILIGHT SINGERS 

A Stitch in Time 86% 

ONE LITTLE INDIAN 

Since the Twilight Singer’s 2006 release of 

Powder Burns, something has changed. 

Namely, that brooding crooner Mark Lanegan has been 

hanging out more than usual and, well, he and Greg Dulli 

have really hit it off in a smoking-in-the-boys-room kind of 

way. Gearing up for their release as the Gutter Twins, 

these two are already starting trouble on this EP with a 

hypnotic cover of Massive Attack’s “Live with Me” and the 

attitude-fueled “Flashback”; elsewhere fellow libertine 

Joseph Arthur helps channel Marvin Gaye on “Sublime.” 

Nitty and gritty. COLIN STUTZ 

GILLES PETERSON & PATRICK 

FORGE PRESENT... 

Sunday Afternoon at 66% 

Dingwalls 

ETHER 

It’s fitting that this is titled Sunday Afternoon… The sense 

of letdown at the end of a weekend when you realize 

you’ve wasted most of your time is an apt metaphor for the 

listening experience. Continually holding onto the hope 

that the next track will be that hidden jazzy gem that 

redeems the filler before it is a futile exercise. There are 

several good songs (mostly confined to the second disc), 

but not one adequately compensates for the lack of inspiration 

pervading the rest of the mix. Here’s looking to next 

weekend. JEREMY MOEHLMANN 

GREENSKEEPERS 

Polo Club 

88% 

OM 

Polo Club is a departure for OM, a label 

famed for its über-soul house mixes a la 

badasses Mark Farina and Kaskade. But draw closer, 

14 FILTER GOOD MUSIC GUIDE

dear reader: self-destruction, love, fame and cowboys 

are addressed via vocals sincere in tone, sardonic in 

composition and riveted together in patchwork mimicry 

of Byrne, Ferry and Ramone. Most cuts would be 

well-received in a club but are rendered with real 

instruments on the main. It’s like a jar of peanut butter 

swirled with jelly, except with a lot more “spreads” in 

the arsenal. MARK VON PFEIFFER 

dvd 

85% 

Factotum 

IFC FILMS 

Bukowski acolytes will 

either love or loathe Matt 

Dillon’s portrayal of 

Chuck’s fictional alter-ego 

in Norwegian director 

Bent Hamer’s take on this 

story of love and art among 

the lowlifes. Dillon doesn’t 

quite approach Mickey Rourke’s Hank Chinaski 

from Barfly, but he’s got the burnt-out nobility 

and looks good with a drink in his paw; Marisa 

Tomei, Lili Taylor, and the late, lamented 

Adrienne Shelly are more successful as velvetand-sandpaper 

distractions. PAUL GAITA 

U.K. Imports presented by 

........................................................................................................................... 

BLOC PARTY 

A Weekend in the City 

WICHITA 

Inspired by what frontman Kele 

Okereke calls “the living noise of a metropolis,” Bloc 

Party’s second album sees them delve further into the 

dense, melancholic soundscapes that their first album 

only hinted at. “Song for Clay (Disappear Here)” is a 

bloody, brutal opening salvo—guitars sparring relentlessly—save 

for Okereke’s calm, considered vocal. 

“Waiting for the 7.18” is an angular-pop neo-classic, 

whilst the chopped-up rhythms of “Hunting for 

Witches” see the band dipping a toe into the jarring 

electronica that’s characterized noughties Radiohead. It 

might lack some of the killer choruses of their debut, 

but A Weekend in the City furthers Bloc Party’s reputation 

as one of the U.K.’s boldest, bravest bands. 

NIALL DOHERTY 

THE VIEW 

Hats Off to the Buskers 

1965 

Dundee’s teenage whiz-kids the View 

drop three-minute pop songs like most of us leak farts. 

Second single “Superstar Tradesman” comes on like 

Pete ’n’ Carl riding a next-generation Trident missile 

sidesaddle, while fellow chart-botherer “Wasted Little 

DJs” sports the kind of killer la-la-la-along that’ll keep 

Kaiser Chief Ricky Wilson’s eyelids permanently peeled 

during those pre-second album sleepless nights. Then 

comes the tumbledown Levellers-on-speed cacophony 

of new single “Same Jeans,” a triumph that proves the 

View’s shit don’t stink. Hats off indeed. JJ DUNNING 

KLAXONS 

Myths of the Near Future 

RINSE 

Following up on unrelenting hype with 

their debut album could’ve seen Klaxons, 2006’s new 

rave pioneers, come unstuck. The trick that makes 

Myths of the Near Future tick, though, is that it’s delivered 

in much of the same frenetic force of the threepiece’s 

euphoric, party-’til-you-puke live shows. 

“Atlantis to Interzone” rides on a DayGlo wave of juddering, 

righteous basslines before breaking out into a 

snarling, mischievous chorus whilst the jittery-punk 

groove of “Gravity’s Rainbow” ensures the hype 

obstacle is well and truly hurdled. Myth or not, the near 

future is theirs for the taking. NIALL DOHERTY 

JARVIS COCKER 

Jarvis 

ROUGH TRADE 

As Jacko will testify, Jarvis Cocker is not 

one to keep his mouth shut, and in a year that sees 

fellow Britpop luminaries Nicky Wire and James Dean 

Bradfield release solo albums, it seems only fitting that 

the ex-Pulp frontman should have his say. Jarvis finds 

the speccy songwriter on top form, warbling over his 

most infectious melodies for years and letting us all in 

on his latest eccentric musings on life with typically 

quick-witted lyrics. Majestic. CAMILLA PIA 

MOGWAI 

Zidane: An Original Soundtrack 

PIAS/WALL OF SOUND 

Zidane was never the fastest man on 

the football pitch and this recording, like the film it 

accompanies, also takes its leisurely time to work its 

magic. Everything on this record is done with gentle 

flourishes but there’s always a threat of violence, much 

like the man himself. Free of the hyperbole that film 

soundtracks often succumb to, it works its way by suggestion 

and intuition and moves with the same ambient 

fluidity as the moving image, one moment seamlessly 

integrated into the next. HANS LUCAS 

BRAKES 

The Beatific Visions 

ROUGH TRADE 

Brakes new album starts brilliantly— 

“Hold Me in the River,” the greatest song the 

Ramones never wrote—and gets better. This is a 28- 

minute U.S. road-trip of a second album—taking in 

punk stomps, country ballads and West Coast 

melody—and, like Kowalski’s jaunt across the States 

to deliver a 1970 Dodge, it’s one hell of a fast trip. 

The country-tinged “Isabel” and “If I Die Tonight” 

border on Bonnie “Prince” Billy in places, but possess 

a tautness and focus that makes this one a sure 

contender for any album of the year list you care to 

mention. JON-PAUL WADDINGTON 

The Fly is the U.K.’s second largest circulated music magazine. Focusing on emerging talent, it’s the essential 

guide to new music in the U.K. Subscriptions are available, priced at £40 for 12 months (11 issues), 

by contacting subs@channelfly.com, or online at www.the-fly.co.uk. 


Goods from the Guide 

Robotech: The 

Shadow Chronicles 

Full-length feature DVD 

available Feb. 6 

funimation.com 

Ben Sherman 

City Shirt 

bensherman.com 

Fluevog 

Executor: Capone 

Gray Patent Leather 

$259 

fluevog.com 

Kidrobot 

Madvillain and 

Gorillaz vinyl figures 

$19.95-$34.95 

kidrobot.com 


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