Music Review - Perturbator - I Am The Night

Perturbator is an indie electronic musician that I found through my love of the soundtrack to the game Hotline Miami, which is rich in retro styled electronic music. After some quick research, it turned out Perturbator was responsible for my favorite track "Miami Disco" So I looked him up and found out he has a Bandcamp where he had released a full length album named I Am The Night.

Perturbator calls his music "Retrofuturistic" and as silly sounding as that can be, it's true to it's name. Perturbator likes to make music as if he's scoring 80's video games that never existed. Rich, textured synths that mix styles of electronic styles of Disco, Electro and even Cyberpunk and play them out in such a way that it sounds like it's straight from the 80's. If someone gave me this album on a cassette tape and told me that was it's original form I'd believe them. It sounds like it's straight from the 80's in all it's European style synth glory, but with some modern day flourishes and depth that weren't present then.

I Am The Night is a wonderful romp through such a scenario. Imagine this to be the soundtrack to a SNES Castlevania game, except replace medieval ages with Cyberpunk futures and you have the basis for this album. There are little sound clips that sound like they're from horror/sci-fi movies strewn about the album, adding to the feel too. The album is just stellar front to back if this kind of music interests you. Listening to this album makes me want to make a game just to base this around. I want to add context to it, because even though it stands up great on it's own, I think it could help stand up another media project too.

While I love the entire album, my absolute favorites are Retrogenesis, I Am The Night and Raining Steel. There are similar acts out there, like say, Com Truise (who I'm also really digging lately) But while Com is focused on the more light and airy aspects of the style, Perturbator has really got the dark and adventurous style locked down. There are dark synths and distinct drum beats that hold a song down while glassy synths run around giving each song extra layers of texture that make it sound straight out of the 80's. The female vocal features are all great sultry performances. This is retro video game music perfected for the present, with potential to be the backdrop for something in the future.

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Two Brief Movie Reviews - American Hustle and The Wolf of Wall Street

This week I also saw American Hustle and The Wolf of Wall Street. I won't be saying too much about them and figured I'd condense it down into one post because both are up for a bunch of awards at the Oscars and everyone is talking about them. So I figured with this post I'd just write down my general thoughts on both movies.

First up,    American Hustle

I had an absolute blast with American Hustle. I make it a point to not watch trailers for movies after the first initial one unless it's playing in a theater (because then I can't avoid it) as I like being surprised by movies and not knowing every detail going in. So the trailer I saw for this movie was the initial one with just Christian Bale's speech to Bradley Cooper about who the real artist is if a forger can make an exact copy of a piece of art. So going in I thought it would have some sort of art forgery angle to the movie and was a little disappointed when that's hardly touched on in the film. However, I thought the film was fantastic. It was humorous and fun, and felt smart, and what I mean by that is the "hustles" that the characters pull off felt like they could actually do them based on their back stories, not just because the plot requires it. For contrast, my examples are the Sherlock Holmes films with Robert Downey Jr. Those films don't have writers that are as smart as the character of Sherlock Holmes is to be written, so when he solves a case it feels like he pulls it out of mid-air because they weren't able to write up to his intelligence level.

Going in I had heard reviews stating that they felt the film dragged and felt overly long, while The Wolf of Wall Street is longer but people are generally riveted the entire run time. I do say I agree with that consensus. American Hustle felt long. In the last third I had realized the film had been playing for a long time and was waiting for them to wrap it up. For me however, the length was not a problem for me plot wise. The movie felt like it needed a certain amount of time to set up and pay off each hustle. The problem I had instead was that I thought the character development scenes could have been shorter once we're past the first hour. I felt like once we hit the middle of the movie a lot of character interaction scenes go on a minute or two too long. That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed the film, it's actors, it's music choices and especially the hairdos.

Next - The Wolf of Wall Street

I love Martin Scorsese, and I enjoy Leonardo DiCaprio. I love every movie they make together. The Wolf of Wall Street is no exception. A movie that pushes boundaries of what can be considered appropriate for R rated films. It's a gloriously raunchy tale of excess. The cast all around is once again great. I had never heard of Margot Robbie before this film and now I absolutely adore her. Leo turns in another fantastic performance, and goes a lot further than I would have expected him to go. Jonah Hill I didn't find as amazing as a lot of critics are saying, but I think he turned in a solid performance.

The movie is long, and it has loads of nudity and drug use and explicit language. But The Wolf of Wall Street is a tale about ultimate excess. It helped to sell the image you needed of Jordan Belfort, that he was so filthy rich he could do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. I enjoyed the majority of the song choices, especially Scorsese's penchant for the Blues. I noticed a lot of Howlin' Wolf in this thing, which is always appreciated. Though at times the sound editing was distracting for me. There seemed to be this odd sound editing choice for the first half of the movie that would play some sort of high-energy pop song and right as it crescendos immediately switch to a Blues song. It felt out of place and took me out of the movie a couple times because of how unsmooth it was. This movie felt long to me too, but I was entertained the whole time. I never felt bored. Not having done any research on the real life Belfort before, I knew he had to eventually get his comeuppance, but I didn't know the twists and turns the story would take leading up to that and it was so ridiculously excessive I couldn't wait to see what was next. I saw some critics saying the film was glorifying Belfort's lifestyle and making it cool. All I have to say about that is they clearly did not watch the same film. By the end of this movie you get a pretty good idea of what happens to people who live life thinking they're above the law in every regard. 

In the end, I really enjoyed both movies and think they were similar, albeit different glimpses at the same sort of live life to the absolute fullest, no matter the legality, ideal. Though I believe American Hustle shows what can happen if you have compassion and a heart and end up in that territory, where as The Wolf of Wall Street shows the absolute negative side, someone destroying their lives to keep their status that way. I'm rooting for both films at the Oscars and I can't wait to own both of them.

Movie Review - August:Osage County

So last week I saw the movie August:Osage County, a film adaptation of a play by the same name by Tracy Letts, which opened in 2007. My friend and I went primarily because Benedict Cumberbatch was listed in it, but the rest of the cast also drew me in.

I was very surprised by this movie, because I went in knowing nothing about it, and the trailers did not know what to do with the movie. Every trailer I saw, in the theater or on tv, just used one scene with the majority of the cast all smiling and laughing around a dinner table with some lines from Meryl Streep and highlighted that certain actors were in it. Judging from the looks of that dinner scene and Streep's dialogue I thought it might be a play, and lo and behold, the credit "Based on the play by Tracy Letts" came up within about 2-3 minutes of the start, if I remember correct.

August:Osage County was...interesting. All the info I could find on the play and the movie say it's a Dark Comedy, which generally means there is humor in dark or depressing subjects. While I admit there were humorous points within the film, enough to garner a chuckle now and then, it overall felt bleak and depressing. You watch a family disintegrate in three acts. By the end of this movie I just felt sad.

The basic plot of the movie is that the head of the Weston family, played by Sam Shepard, goes missing. So his drug addled and cancer ridden wife played by Meryl Streep calls her sister and three estranged daughters for support. They all convene on the old family home and have to deal with the high dysfunction between each member of the family.

In the end, I didn't feel like August:Osage County was a good movie. I thought it was a great play in movie form. As a movie, I don't think it worked as well as it could have, with an ending I could tell from a mile away was added because the kind of closure needed in a play is not the same as a movie. I thought every actor did a great job, no matter how big or small the part was. Meryl Streep did some of the best work I've ever seen her do, and that's saying something. I was definitely colored by my expectations for the movie however. All the trailers I saw just showed the introductions of characters and them laughing and smiling around the dinner table. I thought it was going to be some sort of comedy. But if you go into this movie thinking it's going to be a barrel of laughs you're mistaken. In fact, the majority of that dinner table scene they use so prominently in the trailer is Meryl Streep's drug addled character systematically delivering cruel insults or opinions to everyone at the table. The most laughs my friend and I had actually came from one character's music choice in his douchey car as he would speed past people. I'm pretty sure I'll actually never watch the film again, though I do think it was good. It's just not something I'd revisit. Though if I had a chance to see the play I'd go and see it, but as a movie I think it's worth seeing once.

Music Review - Forest Swords - Engravings

Forest Swords is the stage name of English producer Matt Barnes, and Engravings is his debut album.



I've been a big fan of Forest Swords' work since his 2010 EP Dagger Paths, which captured my attention. When I found out he had made a full length album I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was even better, though still riding the same style of "lost in the forest" style Indie Electronic Barnes is becoming known for.

When I said "lost in the forest" I wasn't kidding. The majority of the music Forest Swords makes, particularly on Engravings, has this old, earthy sound to it, tones I can't even fathom sounding anything less than a part of the earth itself. And yet, it's brand new. The way it sounds to me is as if you've just gone on an exploration of an old forest and are wandering through. You don't particularly care which way you're going, you're just letting the experience wash over you. And so the same goes for Engravings. While the songs all have a pretty clear beginning and end, it album as a whole feels more like a singular experience, letting these unusual sounds and textures wash over you. The song I think stands out the most on it's own however is Thor's Stone. Barnes probably felt the same way, as he made a music video for it and made it the single.

The music is certainly odd, but it's charming and beautiful. I'd say if you're into either the Indie Electronic scene or just unique listening experiences you should check out Engravings. Put it on and go for a walk, or a drive. Don't make the album your prime focus, instead, do something else with it on and let it wash over you. See how it effects your mood.

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Movie Review - 47 Ronin

So I started this new blog and then immediately took a couple weeks off to spend time with family and friends for the holidays. OOPS. I wasn't the smartest decision maker there. Oh well. This last week I saw 47 Ronin, the new re-telling of the ancient tale staring Keanu Reeves.



47 Ronin is a film based off of a real life event of 47 samurai in the 18th century whose master is murdered and their plot to avenge his death. The story is famous in Japan and has been told in many facets and forms throughout the ages. This time, it's given a fantasy twist, with witches and demons and magic.

Overall, I liked the movie. Rotten Tomatoes had a score of 11% listed, and that essentially means it's absolutely terrible. But...it wasn't. It was a very...okay film. I would have given it somewhere around 50-60% myself. Though there aren't many surprises in store story-wise. Keanu is doing his best to be Keanu in this movie, meaning he gives an adequate if bland performance and does his best to be the most average thing about the film. The shining star of this movie by far is Rinko Kikuchi, who serves as the right hand of the evil Samurai master. She gets almost all of the cool action set pieces and gets to be delightfully evil and it's downright alluring. You can tell she's having fun with the role, which is nice, considering Keanu is straight-facing it throughout the film.

For other good things about the film I'd like to mention the rest of the cast. All of the Japanese cast do a fantastic job and add a level of realism to it. Though it makes no sense why they would all speak English, the thickness applied to said accent gave me at least a little relief that English was not their first language. Another good thing, the visuals. The film is very pretty, with the fire especially standing out in my memory as being captured well. There is a fantastical beast seen earlier in the film that looks absolutely magnificent. The dragon that Rinko's character turns into also looks amazing. Though in the beginning we see her as a fox and that does not look as great.

The things that let me down ended up mostly being about pacing and where the story went in the two hours they gave us. The story is of the 47 Ronin, Ronin meaning dishonored samurai who have no master. They explain this idea in the first couple minutes of the film. That means we know that the real story we are to follow is the story of 47 Samurai who hatch a plot to avenge their fallen master. That being said, we are given a good 30-45 minutes of Lord Asano, the Samurai master to be slain, and his men. You spend the better part of an hour knowing that the story you're there to see isn't going to start until he dies. Though I think that time does set up a great deal of the atmosphere and tone of 18th century Japan, it does drag the story down quite a bit when you think about what needs to happen and how long it takes to get there.

My other big complaint with the movie as it stood was what they did with Keanu Reeves. They open the movie saying how he's a demon. He's raised by these crazy lizard-like creatures that supposedly taught him all this crazy badass stuff on how to kill people. Yet, when we are shown what he can do, it's just some cool-looking fast movement. He can move really fast. It smelled of wasted potential for such a big build-up. Throughout the first hour of the movie he is seen as a lesser person because of his "demon" nature, everyone shits on him except for Lord Asano's daughter. You would hope he has some crazy badass powers for that kind of build-up, but instead he just moves really fast. Not bad in itself, it's certainly well done, but for that build-up the payoff is not equal.

I think the worst thing about the movie is how it's been marketed, or mis-marketed. I don't know what the hell happened, but Rick Genest, the guy who is semi-famous for having his body tattooed as a skeleton, is all over the marketing. As you can see in the official poster above, he's the second biggest character in the poster under Keanu. Outside of the theater I saw the film in there was a MASSIVE cardboard cut-out poster with the same four characters. So Rick Genest had a larger than life-size cardboard cut-out of himself on that poster. He even has his own individual poster. Every trailer has clips of him in it.

Rick Genest is in the film for all of maybe 30 seconds, and has one line in a cockney accent, which is odd because he's Canadian. There are more scenes in the trailers with him than are even in the film. He literally has one scene and one line, and yet he is fucking everywhere. But where in any of the marketing is our actual main character? You see, Keanu's Kai is not our main character. He's a very strong supporting character, and the catalyst of events of the film, but he is not our main character. Our main character is Hiroyuki Sanada, playing Oishi, the leader of the 47 Ronin. The story is more about him being the right hand man of Lord Asano, and how he's going to avenge his fallen master. It's Oishi's idea to round up the Ronin, and Kai. It's all him. And yet, he's nowhere in the posters. He's not in the official movie poster. His only purpose in the trailers is to explain that they are Ronin and they're going to kill their master's killer. But he's our main character and he's not represented anywhere, and yet Genest's character is everywhere and has maybe 30 seconds of screen time. What the hell.

Overall, the film isn't bad. I actually quite enjoyed myself. I do think however that it's misguided. I'm awaiting some sort of unrated or director's cut to appear when the DVD releases, because it feels like something is missing from the film, especially in regards to Genest. How could he be so trivial in the theatrical film and have him marketed so much if he didn't at one point have a much larger part? If I saw this movie on sale for $5 or under I'd pick it up. There are fun set pieces, the visuals are amazing, and Rinko and the rest of the Japanese cast give great performances, it's just a very uneven film.