Written and Directed by Athina Rachel Tsangari; 2010

Although I’m no Greek film aficionado, it doesn’t take one to figure out that the new film from writer and director Athina Tsangari is a strange observation on the societal and governmental downfall of Greece. Tsangari’s post-modern take on the modernist movement is certainly obtuse, all the while remaining inventive and intriguing.

The film’s main plot involves a naive but mature woman by the name of Marina, played by Ariane Labed. It opens with Marina and her best friend Bella, played by Evangelia Randou, practicing how to kiss — a vivid and awkward scene that immediately places the viewer in a rather surreal world. As the camera finally pulls away and the two break from their act, Marina and Bella begin to engage each other as cats, pawing and hissing and crawling on all fours. The entire opening is strange, especially when one is given almost no context about the characters. Much of the film carries on in the this same pattern, but this first image remains the most vivid.

REVIEW CONTINUES BELOW

The title Attenberg is taken from Marina’s obsession with the films of documentarian David Attenborough, which is knowingly mispronounced when she speaks with Bella. Marina’s infatuation with animals and their behavior is reflected both in her real interactions, and in those moments of make believe which she shares not only with Bella but with her father as well. She’s inhumane when it comes to sexuality and most social experiences,; she’s rigid and cold, the same bland feeling that her father, an ex-engineer, gets from the state of Greece. Attenberg is angular and sharp, a direct comparison to how the area Marina lives has been devised. Bland square buildings stretch along the coast, a characteristic which the father criticizes for being a disgusting trope of modern art.

The film is essentially composed of various vignettes stitched together to tell a vague story, but often feel more like small windows peeking into these character’s lives rather than documents of interactions. As Marina tells Bella, “I have never desired,” and talks about her asexuality while firmly grasping Bella’s bared breast, the sort of animal-like nature of humanity becomes rather obvious. Our desire as humans to lust and to organize things was manifested in the modernist era, but ultimately it just alienated us more than ever from our neighbors. And that’s essentially what Attenberg is about, what humans experience means in relation to our animal heritage. Sure, Marina’s father dies of cancer and she eventually loses her virginity to a stranger, but it’s the way in which Tsangari frames the human emotion, so often childish and animalistic, which makes the film unique and bizarre.

END.

music art film review - REDEFINE magazine

Attenberg Film Review (Greece)

DARKSIDE

Considering everyone has been getting their panties in a wad about the genius of 21-year-old Nicolas Jaar, it seems to make sense that his next project — a collaboration with Dave Harrington (of ARMS) would excel ridiculously. Their first show sold out Music Hall Of Williamsburg despite the fact that they have only one 3-track EP under their shared electronic belt. The world is watching, and no wonder… this is Jaar’s genius expanded into a package that is not only danceable, but accessible. A James Blake level of prodigy that Americans can be proud of owning (well, kind of, as he was partially raised in Chile, but we’ll take it). SXSW will be their second ever show in the United States. (Please play our SXSW show, guys.)

PURCHASE THE EP AT CLOWN & SUNSET

Matthew Dear

Released earlier this year, Headcage packs quite memorable style into its ~15-minute EP duration. One of the most intriguing parts of it, though, lies in how Dear treats the vocals. The scratchy vocal depth on “Headcage” practically comes from the mouth of the Sandman, and seems to embrace death with surreal depiction:

I suspect as I speak
Your hair grows down to your knees
Let it pass through your hands
Follow me into the sand
If you need to go to sleep man

See the absolutely astounding music video for “Headcage” HERE, along with full tour dates.

ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW
Matthew Dear – Headcage by ghostly

“Headcage” is the record’s first single, followed by “In The Middle” featuring Jonny Pierce. Here, the EP turns a brighter cheek. Clear vocals seem to fly in an ocean breeze, the most uninhibited on the record, while looping vocal samples form a joyful percussive background. (Stream this track — arguably the best on the EP — below.)

In the remaining tracks, “Street Song” incorporates trailing phantom particle vocal lines, and “Around A Fountain” seems nearly the work of a capella vocal loops, save for some percussive elements and minimal synths.

music art film review - REDEFINE magazine

DARKSIDE + Matthew Dear = Vocal Effect Genius & Dance Rhythms

In Midday Veil’s new video for “Moon Temple,” vocalist Emily Pothast has edited source material she and guitarist Timm Mason generated last year during a residency at Experimental Television Center in Upstate New York. At its gentlest, the video is a silky smooth ripple; at its most severe, a rigid and noisy gallop through harsh-edged brain wave terrain. Pothast guides you to step through purple-hued worlds as she morphs from a candle-wielding human into multiple faces of sensuality, to disintegrate in and out of forms of ghostly apparition. 23:50 in duration, “Moon Temple” is the type of video you’d want to project on a big screen, for a richly synesthesic experience.

The band has just finished mixing The Current, their second studio album with producer Randall Dunn (Boris, Sunn o)))). Stream the entire improvised EP below, and catch them on a string of tour dates, including a set at the upcoming REDEFINE SXSW showcase at House of Commons, Austin. (More details and full lineup coming soon, and you can see last year’s recap HERE.)

Read an interview with Emily Pothast about Midday Veil and her record label, Translinguistic Other HERE.

MIDDAY VEIL TOUR DATES
March 1 Rat & Raven, Seattle, WA
March 3 Bad for Jazz # 12 at SPACE, Seattle, WA
March 9 Pastime Tavern, Dallas, TX
March 10 SXSW Runoff Fest at Super Happy Fun Land, Houston, TX
March 11 Cafe Istanbul w/ PSYCHIC ILLS & WOODSMAN, New Orleans, LA
March 15 Austin Psych Fest SXSW Party, Spiderhouse, Austin, TX
March 16 Redefine Magazine Showcase, House of Commons, Austin, TX

music art film review - REDEFINE magazine

Midday Veil – Moon Temple Music Video (Subterranean Ritual II)

YEAR ZERO

Vehicles, dirt, and griminess recalling those from Black Mountain’s video for “Old Fangs” receive a colorful lift via projections in caves, beautiful sunsets, hot babes, and… surf footage? Black Mountain have surprisingly teamed up with skate and surf company GLOBE to create a [heavily electronic influenced?] soundtrack for the upcoming surf film, Year Zero. Below is the trailer (which looks slow-motion fantastic) and a SoundCloud stream of their new track, “Mary Lou,” which will be found on the soundtrack for Year Zero.

Globe describe the film, saying:

YEAR ZERO is a modern take on high performance surfing set in a post-apocalyptic world, reminiscent of Mad Max or an HG Wells novel. It tells a story of a band of renegade surfers, including Dion Agius, Yadin Nicol, Nate Tyler, Taj Burrow, CJ Hobgood and Damien Hobgood, on a road trip through the apocalypse in search of waves, women, and good times. The film’s original soundtrack by BLACK MOUNTAIN, whom VICE MAGAZINE has called, “One of the best rock n’ roll bands of our time,” creates a sonic landscape that fully delivers the immersive experience that director Joe G envisioned for the film.

The film was shot on location around the world entirely in super 16mm film and offers a unique concept with stunning visuals that capture the essence of surfing in a novel setting. YEAR ZERO follows GLOBE’S previous award winning productions such as SECRET MACHINE and NEW EMISSIONS OF LIGHT AND SOUND and is undoubtedly GLOBE’S largest film project to date.

music art film review - REDEFINE magazine

Black Mountain – Year Zero Film Trailer

YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN

Pitchfork describes YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN as “psych-opera.” Press point yarn. This is not psych-opera, dudes; at least, not in musical style. When in consideration of YT//ST, one is inundated with hype terminology — including the band’s calling themselves “Noh(能)-Wave” (aka Traditional-Japanese-Dance-Theatre-Wave) and even more obnoxiously, “hyper-orientalist.”

While I am all for incorporating multicultural influences into one’s music, there is a degree of intense Asian fetishism present in YT//ST’s schtick that translates to their image in an arguably trite way. “Queens,” “Reverse Crystal // Murder of a Spider,” and “Hoshi Neko” from their new record certainly have moments of genre-crossing excellence. I don’t want to take away from that. But the music itself is not really opera, barely psychedelic, and definitely not hyper-orientalist, save for the use of the Japanese language. The genres that are crossed are more steeped in noise, metal, and pop; the hyper-orientalism plays out in facepaint (presumably in honor of Asian opera), music videos that seem a bit “tokidoki”, and pop art paper sculpture sets.

YT//ST call themselves a multi-disciplinary art collective, and they incorporate illustration and installation art into their performances. Fantastic! The way of the future! I admire their impetus! But what is it about Japanese and Asian culture that makes such emulation and fetishism culturally acceptable? While it is true that the two main ladies behind the project are themselves of mixed Asian heritage, at what point is it genuine, and at what point kitsch? These are just some things to contemplate while you decide yourself, via album stream and live performance video, below.
See an interesting discussion with PRINCE RAMA bout the topic of genuine versus kitsch HERE.

Swahili Blonde

Swahili Blonde also incorporate different multiple genres to break new musical territory. But at least their comparison points are actually rooted in discernible influences rather than just ridiculous buzz words. Yes — in Swahili Blonde you can hear evidence of the “unconventional dubby art-rock,” “Caribbean influences,” and “angular funk” of which they speak. And hell, though they didn’t use the description of “psych-opera,” I hear it more in their music and see it more in their visuals than in YT//ST’s. Their record, Psycho Tropical Ballet Pink, came out late last year, and the tracks “Etoile De Mer” and “Purple Ink” are great examples of genuine experimental groovy weirdness, not just emulation and fetishism. Stream the entire record below.

Directed by Burke Roberts.

music art film review - REDEFINE magazine

YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN + Swahili Blonde = On The Topic Of “Psych-Opera”, Genre-Crossing, Press Hype.

Portland International Film Festival (PIFF) is upon us again, and we have whittled down their list of 100+ international shorts and full-length films to pick what we have determined to be the best and most interesting of the bunch.

Portland International Film Festival 2012 runs from February 9th through the 25th, with more than one screening for most movies (exceptions generally being shorts and midnight film series).

Looking for something to do this upcoming week? How about one of these films?

Those interested in documentaries can see a list of documentaries we recommend for PIFF 2012 or see here for all PIFF coverage.

SNOWTOWN
AUSTRALIA

Directed by Justin Kurzel
Snowtown is director Justin Kurzel’s examination on a series of murders throughout the 1990s, all committed under the leadership of Australia’s most famous serial killer, John Bunting. A terrifying suburban horror film, rooted in real life mysteries. Winner of the Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival.
02/24 – 6:30pm – Lloyd Mall 6
02/25 – 8:30pm – Whitsell Auditorium

SURVIVING LIFE
CZECH REPUBLIC

Directed by Jan Svankmajer
All hail Czech surrealist Jan Svankmajer, who is back – surprisingly – with a new film! Here, Svankmajer explores the human subconscious and dreams; a man who finds himself repeatedly dreaming about a mysterious fictional woman consults a doctor on how he can delve deeper into dreamland, to continue his new romantic saga.
02/15 – 8:45pm – Whitsell Auditorium
02/22 – 9:00pm – Whitsell Auditorium

THE LONELIEST PLANET
GERMANY

Directed by Julia Loktev
Gael Garcia Bernal’s latest movie has him alongside Hani Furstenberg, in a romantic drama about a couple that was madly in love but fall apart once resentment and disappointment seeps in silently. A character portrait on how contempt and wordless physical and mental cues can transform the course of a relationship.
02/20 – 5:15pm – Cinema 21
02/24 – 8:45pm – Cinema 21

THE TURIN HORSE
HUNGARY

Directed by Bela Tarr
Black and white minimalism push forth this Hungarian philosophical and metaphysical tale, inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche’s mental collapse after his witnessing of the Turin Horse. (FULL REVIEW)
02/18 – 8:15pm – Cinema 21
02/21 – 7:00pm – Cinema 21

FOOTNOTE
ISRAEL

Directed by Joseph Cedar
Father and son, both working in Israel as Talmudic scholars, must learn how to resolve a conflict of pride when one is mistakenly told he has won the famed Israel Prize.
02/18 – 8:30pm – Whitsell Auditorium
02/19 – 5:00pm – Cinema 21

NORWEGIAN WOOD
JAPAN

Directed by Tran Anh Hung
A film adaption of Haruki Murakami’s novel of the same name, Norwegian Wood. Is a slow-paced romantic story about dysfunction, tragedy, and love. Beautifully shot, with a soundtrack crafted by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead.
02/12 – 8:00pm – Lloyd Mall 6
02/21 – 7:00pm – Cinemagic

AURORA
ROMANIA

Directed by Cristi Puiu
This is the second film in Romanian director Cristi Puiu series, Six Stories From The Outskirts Of Bucharest, where a seemingly “normal” guy commits intensely violent acts, driving home the message the perspectives can always be challenged.
02/20 – 6:00pm – Lloyd Mall 6
02/22 – 6:30pm – Pioneer Place Mall

THE DAY HE ARRIVES
SOUTH KOREA

Directed by Hong Sang-Soo
A film professor finds that notable circumstances in his life keep reoccurring day after day, challenging him to determine whether his days have become mind-numbingly routine or if the same day is somehow replaying over and over again.
02/14 – 6:15pm – Whitsell Auditorium
02/23 – 8:30pm – Whitsell Auditorium

EXTRATERRESTRIAL
SPAIN

Directed by Nacho Vigalondo
In this unlikely romantic comedy, two strangers – who have just met after a one-night stand – find themselves in close quarters after massive alien spaceships arrive in Madrid.
02/24 – 8:45pm – Whitsell Auditorium
02/25 – 6:00pm – Whitsell Auditorium

ETERNITY
THAILAND

Directed by Sivaroj Kongsakul
This Thai epic oscillates back and forth between mirth and tragedy, life and death, past memories in a spiritual and poetic way that is at once confusing and enrapturing.
02/22 – 6:00pm – Lloyd Mall 6
02/25 – 8:15pm – Lloyd Mall 6

ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA
TURKEY

Directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan
A mesmerizing murder tale, which REDEFINE writer George Shaefer describes as possessive of an inherent intrigue — a subtle, masterful work, worth many viewings and good conversations about meaning.” FULL REVIEW
02/19 – 7:30pm – Cinema 21
02/24 – 3:00pm – Cinema 21

music art film review - REDEFINE magazine

Portland International Film Festival 2012: Festival Preview Guide, Part Two

The man behind La Mano Press — an artist-run center dedicated to the promotion and appreciation of printmaking — Artemio Rodriguez’s works fall somewhere between old alchemical and biblical illustrations and Mexican folk art. His woodcuts and etchings ring of death and dying and simultaneously of playfulness, making spit-roasted rows of heads look downright adorable, Last Suppers both congenial and morbid.

music art film review - REDEFINE magazine

Artemio Rodriguez Woodcuts And Etchings Recalling Mystical And Morbid Traditions

Father Murphy

How cliche of an Italian band to take all of the meditative qualities of Catholic priestly chants and incorporate them into their craft! Comprised of vocalist and guitarist Reverend Fredie (of course), vocalist, keyboardist, and percussionist Chiara Lee, and vocalist, drummer, and string instrument wielder Vitorio De Marin, Father Murphy supposedly now have their most accessible record, to date, but they’re still channeling some transcendental black metal is-ness here. Anyway, your children will deny it comes out March 13th on Aagoo Records, and was recorded and mixed by Greg Saunier of Deerhoof. Have no doubt that it will leave you wondering just what your children will be denying. May / June Tour 2012 with Xiu Xiu & Dirty Beaches to be announced soon, as well as a split 7″ picture disc with Xiu Xiu!

Anyway, your children will deny it TRACKLISTING
1. How we ended up with feelings of guilt
2. His face showed no distortions
3. It is funny it is rest both came quickly
4. Digging the bottom of the hollow
5. In praise of our doubts
6. Their consciousness
7. In the flood with the flood
8. Don’t let yourself be hurt

Henetration

I have absolutely no idea where Hanetration is coming from with his moniker (I keep tragically typing it as Henetration, bringing to mind unnecessary filths), but his music certainly fits the goal of Spectral Hypnosis. For one thing, I completely forgot what I was listening to when the extended drones of “Rufus” started wailing, and I am finding myself repeatedly forgetting as I am writing this. This is transportive music, to be buried beneath ground with your secrets, where they will fester while being eaten alive by glitchy bugs. Tenth Oar EP is not nearly as dark as it sounds, though; it’s actually transportive, freeing, unassuming. And best of all: available for free download. (What am I doing?)

Tomat

Italians, again! Tomat is the solo project of Italy’s Davide Tomat. Dream and drone hold hands on his conceptual release, out March 5th on Monotreme Records. The conceptual backing is a fascinating one. In this technological day and age, it’s always nice to see when experimental artists are actually experimental in their creation process, as well as in their sound. Enjoy two tracks below, along with a brief summary from Tomat:

“This record came to life in 6 days from the 1st to the 6th of June 2010.

Each song is matched to an historical event that happened between the 1st and the 6th of June during human history.
I did a solo real time improvisation session for 6 days in my studio, recording each session in multi-track recordings, using only my voice, an analog monophonic sythesizer and a guitar through effects, loopers, computer and samplers, creating layers over layers of voices, sythesizers and guitar. No over dubs.

After 6 days of improvisation and 7 hours of music, on the 7th of June I started listening to all the music, isolating different tracks…at the end I had 36 different tracks.

I thought about the idea that something that had happened in these 6 days in human history may have inspired me while I was putting out this music and these emotions.

So I did some research about the events that happened in the past between the 1st and the 6th of June and I matched each track to a different event. I tried to mach things and emotions that could be compatible, emotions that somehow inspired me in creating this music.

I isolated 21 tracks to work on and then after some edits I mixed 11 songs and I mastered them on the 7th of September 2011.

This record is made 90% by vocals and 10% by an analog monofonic sythesizer and a guitar. It’s a drony experimental record that evokes sonic landscapes.

music art film review - REDEFINE magazine

Spectral Hypnosis : Tomat, Hanetration, Father Murphy MP3 Streams & Downloads

Wooden Shjips

If you weren’t convinced that about everyone ever is jumping on the remix bandwagon, we now have psych rock staples Wooden Shjips growing a third dance eye. Remixes, out February 21st, 2012, on Thrill Jockey Records, is a 28-minute 12″ EP featuring three remixes: “Crossing” from Andrew Weatherall, “Wiking Stew” from Sonic Boom (Pete Kember of Spacemen 3) and “Ursus Maritimus” from Kandodo (Simon Price of The Heads) w/ Ripley. Available now for pre-order on limited crystal clear vinyl with black streaks, and this shit is going to be good.

REMIX

ORIGINAL

Young Magic – “Night In The Ocean” (S.Maharba Serpent Love Song Remix)

We’ve been diggin’ on the new Young Magic record, Melt, with a palpable degree of excitement (you can stream the whole record here). These dudes really know how to market. First they dropped a bunch of EPs; then they dropped an album and a bunch of remixes — with each building momentum, each creating a bigger snowball that will ultimately go down as some Young Magic legacy, probably.

REMIX

ORIGINAL

Martin Denny – “The Enchanted Sea” (Young Magic Remix)

As a related added bonus: here is a Martin Denny’s “The Enchanted Sea,” which will lull you into some crazy mystic water raft. Always a treat when indie musicians can remix from largely untapped sources. Awash in blissful sound, ye! Avast!

REMIX

ORIGINAL

Blondes

On February 7th, Blondes released their latest double LP (appropriately titled BLONDES 2XCD) on RVNG Intl. It’s killer, and seems to be a next step in blurring the ridiculously segmented worlds of indie electronic music and club electronic music. Other remixes include “Pleasure,” remixed by Robert Miles (yes! Robert Miles! though this is available only as a digital exclusive), “Gold,” remixed by Laurel Halo, and “Business,” remixed by John Roberts. Amongst others.

REMIX

Teengirl Fantasy’s remix of “Wine” from the Blondes self-titled album remixes (RVNGNL12).

ORIGINAL

Whitney Houston – “How Will I Know” (Chromeo Remix)

In honor of the fallen lady of R&B, Chromeo have put together a new version of “When The Night Knows,” treated up in the usual Chromeo ’80s way. For max comparison, we’ve included an A Capella version of the track, as well as a music video from the 1991 track, so you can see Whitney at the height of her game.

A CAPELLA VERSION

ORIGINAL

music art film review - REDEFINE magazine

Remix City : Wooden Shjips, Young Magic, Blondes, Chromeo

Krautrock blends with pop on “Rituals,” the single from Death and Vanilla’s upcoming self-titled album. The Swedish duo’s video begins with a masquerade party, lulling one into a Eyes Wide Shut-type scenario of magick and mystery. As the track then progresses and speeds up, viewers are invited to descend down a black and white tunnel of geometries and fast cuts before everything tapers out again into mellow vibes and a burst of color. All of the footage is taken from five different art house productions and then manipulated by the band. Films are credited below.

The band tells REDEFINE a little bit about the creative process behind “Rituals” and how that ties in with the video:

“Rituals” is a quite hypnotic track as are the films in the video. There is a still and slow melody over an underlying restless rythm that gives this kind of haunting feel to the song. But there is nothing scary about it; it is just rhythm that never come to a rest… The musical elements of Rituals are collages of rythms and sampled sounds that we’ve put together almost at random and the song just emerged by itself almost. It’s the case of pieces falling to place by themselves.

VIDEO SOURCES
Derek Jarman : Art Of Mirrors (1973)
Harry Smith : Early Abstractions (1946-57)
Georges Franju : Judex (1963)
Aldo Tambellini : ?
Marcel Duchamp : Anemic Cinema (1926)

Information about the album release is below!

DEATH AND VANILLA – DEATH AND VANILLA TRACKLISTING
01. Rituals
02. Dreams Of Sheep
03. Cul De Sac
04. The Somnambulists
05. The Unseeing Eye
06. From Elsewhere
07. Library Goblin
08. The Clearing
09. The Unseeing I

Release date: Tuesday, March 13th, 2012
Limited editions of 300 copies in 12″ yellow coloured vinyl and 150 Digipack CDs
Co-release with Hands In The Dark and Kalligrammofon.

music art film review - REDEFINE magazine

Death And Vanilla – Rituals Music Video