Author, Recluse J.D. Salinger Dies

Catcher in the Rye was the first book I ever read on my own and I loved it before I even understood it but the story of the author has become almost as intriguing as one of his stories.

Dave Eggers' wish: Once Upon a School

Music Review: Animal Collective- Fall Be Kind

As the decade without a name comes to a close, a look back reveals a strange amalgam of musical developments, but without question one of the most exciting bands to surface was Animal Collective. The Baltimore natives put out an amazing album this year but may have even raised the stakes with their new 5 track EP, Fall Be Kind, which pushes the sonic envelope a bit further, offering new developments and, if possible, a more complex sound.

The intro track “Graze” begins with a theatrical note and has a feeling reminiscent of a late 70’s progressive rock concept album ala Pink Floyd or Yes. It’s followed up with “What Would I Want? Sky” which samples the Grateful Dead’s “Unbroken Chain” from Mars Hotel (the first ever licensed use of a Dead sample). The song changes pace a bit with the addition of strong percussion and a spacey, tribal feel, which develops into a brilliant movement that approaches a more traditional rock song format with an almost hip-hop quality.

This track alone makes the album worth picking up but it’s followed with an ambient layered interim entitled “Bleed” and “On a Highway” which continues the tribal, echo chamber feel but with a more pronounced 1980’s pop/rock edge. The EP closes with a Frankensteinian track entitled “I Think I Can” which blends together a drive to the beach in 1986 with deep space “wall of sound” production and a dash of medieval troubadours to create something inherently Animal Collective in every way.

For: Short & Sweet NYC

I heart Alma

Alma from Rodrigo Blaas on Vimeo.

This is a fantastic short animated film from director Rodrigo Blaas who has worked as a Pixar animator for a number of years. Watch it, Love it, repeat.

Top Films of 2009

Happy New Year! Here's a list of my favorite...and least favorite films from 2009. Unfortunatly some of the cool indie films take a long time to get out here to the suberbs so there's a bunch I've been wanting to see but luckily, it's been a pretty good year for films.

1. Up In The Air
2. Up
3. Funny People
4. Inglorious Bastards
5. Where The Wild Things Are
6. The Cove
7. District 9
8. It Might Get Loud
9. Avatar
10. Coraline

And the worst...
1. Land of the Lost
2. 2012
3. Observe and Report
4. The Hangover
5. Sherlock Holmes

Another Crazy Christmas

Happy Holidays!

DVD Review: Kiki Smith- Squatting the Palace

photo by Checkerboard Films

Kiki Smith is a tough person to label in the contemporary art world but the new DVD Squatting the Palace gives a look into her whirlwind process revealing a great deal about her creative identity and ultimately her work itself. The documentary focuses on her preparation for a major exhibition in 2005 at the Fondazione Querini Stampalia in Venice giving the audience an inside look into how she creates her work and what it takes to put together such a large exhibition.

With her wild grey hair and tattooed arms, Kiki Smith appears to be a contradiction- part soulful hippie and part New York punk and that sensibility carries over to her work which has defied the common stereotypes incorporating multiple media including sculpture, printmaking, drawing, photography, and anything else that suits her fancy. The film does a good job in illuminating events in Smith’s childhood such as her sparse living spaces and her relationship with her father, sculptor Tony Smith, giving the viewer a great deal of insight into her work’s ultimate meaning. It also might explain why Smith has avoided working in a formal studio, choosing instead to work in her East Village townhouse which is at times both frenetic and quaint.

The only downside to the documentary is that Smith’s flighty nature gets in the way of what she’s saying at times and the unobtrusive; almost cinéma vérité style doesn’t include input from other artists or scholars that might add some clarity.

For: Short&SweetNYC