Reflektor

When Alice peers through the looking glass, it is not the illogical whimsy of wonderland that troubles her. It is her growth (or lack thereof). Almost all of Alice's conflicts arise when she is faced with the reduction and/or production of her self.

It is fascinating to observe that "looking glasses" or mirrors are found throughout childhood stories, fables, myths, and even superstitions. (Think of the magic mirror in Snow White, the reflection in the greek myth of Narcissus, Dracula's lack of a reflection in mirrors, Urim & Thummim, etc.).

Why? Why mirrors? Why reflections? Why do these objects and manifestations persist?

Arcade Fire has a hunch. (Maybe more than a hunch--an album...)

The aptly named "Reflektor" was released on October 29, 2013. (You may also note that on 2007's "Neon Bible" the band sings about a "Black Mirror.").

(Before I go on, you should know that I'm unabashedly hooked on Arcade Fire's earnest-anthem-rousing-introspective-emotive rock music, okay? They just really do it for me).

So, they come out with this album and a single by the same name (Reflektor). The single is, by all accounts, a "dancey" number with nods to James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem and "Mr. Labrynth" himself, David Bowie.

I love it.

I also love the video (click here to see).

I've listened to it so many times now, I've actually started to hear the words they're singing. (I still don't understand the French part, but, whatevs, right?)

Win Butler and his wife sing about prisms of light and falling in love during the "reflective age." It's all very beautiful.

As the stanzas march forward, an awareness begins to brew...The reality (love?) they have forged may not be reality, but merely a reflection (Win Butler sings: "Our song it skips, on a little disc. Our love is plastic, we'll break it to bits.").

This leads to a sweet new-wave-break-down-of-a-bridge with David Bowie singing alongside Win Butler:

"Thought you were praying to the resurrector, turns out it was just a Reflektor!"

Here, the band introduces a "Reflektor" as sort of this doppleganger character--a mirage of themselves, a mirage of salvation, a mirage of truth and a mirage of love.

Just like Alice, the conflict they discover comes from a reflection. The reflection leads them to struggle with both the reduction and/or production of themselves.

The album veers back and forth from this theme with a fair amount of whimsy, irony, and even humor. (If you haven't seen their genius satire of themselves--and the current "irony state of hipsters" on SNL--check it out now!)


So, why do mirrors represent such chaos and conflict? Mystery and trouble?

The answer is simple: Mirrors provide us with our reflection. What we see, is what we get.

Film Politik....

Obama's IRS scandal got you down?

Still cringe at the thought of "G-Dubya" and the GOP?

Don't worry. As usual, Brad Pitt can solve all your troubles.

(Formal Disclosure: I have a serious man-crush on Brad Pitt.)

Man-crushes aside, Brad Pitt has purposely enlisted his unique charisma and humanistic pathos to a few roles that reach for "bigger than him" topics.

Epic fails:
Seven Years in Tibet (Buddhism, Tibet, Western vs. Eastern Philosophies)
The Devil's Own (Some crap about the IRA)
(The guy cannot hold down an accent to save his life...)

Mind-blowing Successes:
Se7en (Nature of Good and Evil)
Fight Club (Social Malaise, Conformity, the Nature of Mental Illness)
Babel (Universality of the Human Experience)
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Cost of Fame & Fortune)
The Tree of Life (Um, Life, and yes, dinosaurs...)

Killing Them Softly falls squarely into the latter category.

Killing Them Softly was directed by Andrew Dominik.

Mr. Dominik is a dude from New Zealand and directed Brad Pitt in one of my all-time favorite movies, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

Some of the big questions raised in "Jesse James" were: What is the cost of fame and fortune? How strong are the bonds of family? Why are God's gifts so generous to one and not another?

Jesse James is one of those movies that keeps getting better every time I watch it.

(Essentially, for me, that is the ultimate test for art. Does it get better with time?)

In Jesse James, the characters are not always just the characters. They are representative symbols as well. Additionally, the scenery is not always just the scenery, but masterful cinematic strokes transforming the internal into the external.

Dominik and Pitt (along with captivating portrayals by Casey Affleck and Sam Rockwell) give you levels to work on. It is pure brilliant, nerdy, psychological fun...

So, when I heard that Dominik and Pitt were teaming up again for Killing Them Softly, I expected more of the same.

I was not disappointed.

Where Jesse James was a beautiful throwback to the Western genre, Dominik takes an alarmingly modern--almost post-apocolyptic--take on the pulp-crime-thriller genre.

The film starts out like an alien transmission tuning in to Earth. You follow a shadowy figure out of a godforsaken tunnel into a mess of a world. Trash floods the streets as political ads and "calls for change" are heard and seen in the background.

Dominik takes no time letting you know that this film takes place at the cusp of "the great recession."

My words will pay no justice to the visuals presented. You just need to see the movie, alright!?

Just be warned, if you thought Dominik and Pitt were gonna use their influence to make a film about America's response to "the great recession" as "Obama-ganda," you're dead wrong.

Pitt's character, Jackie Cogan sums it up best:

"I'm living in America and in America, you're on your own. America's not a country. It's just a business. Now fuckin' pay me."

Time Traveling to the 80's? This just happened!

Recent events in my life have made me terribly nostalgic for my youth. It's stupid and pointless, but I really wanted a dose of my childhood in the 80's.

I've read enough Wikipedia to understand the irony of people "looking back on the good ol' days" when we know that the world has always been a hot mess. Ever since I could understand the nightly news, there was a bunch of crap happening to the environment, the economy, and crap in Libya and Iran. I get it.

But recently, I've just sort of longed for my childhood days. They were consumed with cartoons and sugary cereals. I rode my bike for miles and miles across dirt paths. I had mounds and mounds of action figures and thoroughly lost myself in their battles.

Springtime sorta pushed me over the edge. I don't know if it was the dry, sweet aroma of the russian olive tree blossoms, but the longing grew rather strong.

So, as I was driving up a canyon pass, I evaluated my recent new music purchases:

1. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
2. Jim James
3. Eels
4. The Strokes.

Albums 1-3 are good. None of them are great.

Album # 4 by The Strokes is neither good nor great. It's an 80's Comedown Machine.

Every freaking song on this album has a flavor. Music critics will dismiss it as 80's New Wave Redux.

Those critics are not time travelers and have not discovered just what in the hell The Strokes have accomplished.

I have no evidence to support it, but I'm pretty sure this album was recorded inside a Zot, mixed with a Slurpee, in the summer of 1986.

How do I know this? Because I recorded this album inside a Zot mixed with a Slurpee.

In a few years, I will have come across a method of time travel. (I don't know how or why, cuz it hasn't happened yet, duh.)

I will have determined that to help myself get through rough patches, I will most assuredly turn to music in some form or fashion. I will tell myself:

"Ben, you must go to the 80's, plant a sonic treat for yourself to enjoy--on accident--when you're bummed out in the future!"

Then I will respond to myself: "Okay, but, why does it have to be on accident? Like, if I want a sonic treat, I think I'd want it deliberately, right?"

Then I will tell myself: "You don't understand this yet, but deliberate efforts to improve your funks never really last very long. You'll want something that sticks. Trust me."

Then I will respond to myself: "I guess I trust you. That would be weird if I didn't right?"

Then I will tell myself: "This is already weird. Just go to bed."

After this future conversation with myself, I will have used the time-traveling method to go back to the 80's. I will have found the sunny cement wall nearby the local 7-11 where I grew up. I will have waited for 8-year old Ben to purchase a pack of Zots and a strawberry Slurpee from change he scrounged out of the couch.

I will have recorded 8-year old Ben's somato-sensory experience the moment he mixed the exploding Zot candy with his strawberry Slurpee.

I will have calibrated the time traveling method to slow down time so as to allow me to learn to play and record music that sounds an awful like The Strokes in that very moment.

Then I will have kept the recording in my time machine and dropped it off at Julian Casablancas house in 2012.

Pretty amazing, right? You don't believe me?

How do you explain this:

In 2001, The Strokes released "Is this it?" to worldwide critical acclaim.
In 2003, The Strokes released "Room on Fire" to somewhat less worldwide critical acclaim.
In 2006, The Strokes released "First Impressions of Earth" to just a little bit less worldwide critical acclaim than "Room on Fire."
In 2011, The Strokes released "Angles" to considerably less worldwide critical acclaim and were considered by many to be "on the brink" of both creative and critical relevance.
In 2013, The Strokes released "Comedown Machine." This album received modest reviews as a "Strokesian 80's New Wave Redux."

You mean to tell me that a band on the decline is NOT gonna use the material I recorded in 1986 next to a 7-11 while an 8-year old boy mixed a Zot with a strawberry Slurpee? I don't think so.

Exhibit A: the soundtrack of me riding my bike through endless suburbia chewing on some Hubba-bubba?





Exhibit B: The soundtrack of my encounter with rival neighborhood bike riders bragging about guns, and the coolest cars on the planet? I mean, "What kind of asshole drives a Lotus?"





Exhibit C: The soundtrack of my first crush?






Time travel just happened, man!

(And even if it didn't, it worked. These songs have a distinct texture of a talented rock band honoring the sounds of the past by building them up, breaking them down, and making them their own. This process is not unlike entering adulthood/middle age. Thank you, Time-traveling Ben. Thank you, Strokes. Thank you, Zots & Slurpee.)

The Benny Awards 2013!

Celebrating music through the BENNY Awards for more than 33 years, The Ben Recording Academy continues its rich legacy and ongoing growth as the premier outlet for honoring achievements in the recording arts and supporting the music community by blogging about stuff. 

The BENNYs are the only non-peer-presented award to honor artistic achievement, ballstastic proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position. 

As we move ahead in an ever-changing music environment (e.g., liquid music ear drops), The Ben Recording Academy looks forward to the new opportunities of a growing organization. Over the last decade particularly, The Academy has expanded its goals from the important work of recognizing the best in music through the BENNY Awards to establishing itself as the preeminent balls-out-rock advocacy and outreach organization in the country. 

The Academy's mission statement is simple, but represents the heart and soul of the organization's efforts: to positively impact the lives of musicians that I think are cool. The Academy can be proud of its accomplishments on behalf of its constituency(you). Through the efforts of the volunteer leadership and the capable professional staff (my iPod, iTunes, and Amazon mp3s), the music community (country western music is basically ignored cuz its lame), music lovers and inheritors of America's great cultural legacy are reaping the benefit (damn straight).

The recording industry's most prestigious award, the BENNY, is presented annually by The Ben Recording Academy. A BENNY is awarded by The Ben Recording Academy's voting membership to honor excellence in the recording arts and sciences and balls. It is truly a non-peer honor, awarded by and to artists and dudes for artistic or ballstastic achievement, not sales or chart positions. 

Fields & Categories (2012 Calendar Year):

Steady Rockers with Clever Curveballs

1. Song

2. Album

And the BENNY goes to....

1. Dr. Dog--That Old Black Hole

2. Diamond Rugs--Diamond Rugs

Makes You Cry Man Tears of Sensitivity

1. Song

2. Album

And the BENNY goes to...

1. Perfume Genius--Hood

2. The Avett Brothers-The Once and Future Carpenter

Face-Melting-Mind-Blow

1. Song

2. Album

And the BENNY goes to...

1. Jack White--Love is Blindness (U2 Cover)

2. Jack White--Blunderbuss

Heartbreakers

1. Song

2. Album

And the BENNY goes to...

1. Islands--This is Not a Song

2. Islands--A Sleep & A Forgetting (Released on Valentine's Day 2012)

BEST ARTISTS FOR THE PAST 5 YEARS:

Arcade Fire

The Black Keys

Dr. Dog

Islands

Jack White (and His Related Endeavors--Minus his Collaboration with Insane Clowne Posse)

My Morning Jacket

Wilco

Congratulations to all the BENNY winners! Feel free to come over to my house for some spaghetti!