Kurt Cobain ~ Retrato de uma Ausência

Na sua infância gostava de pensar que era um alienígena adoptado pela família, muita coisa começa a fazer sentido sobre a vida, obra e morte do líder da banda Nirvana, que se suicidou em abril de 1994, aos 27 anos.

"Kurt Cobain - Retrato de uma Ausência" é um documentário impressionista, uma colagem de entrevistas concedidas pelo músico a Michael Azerrad (autor do livro "A Historia do Nirvana", cerca de um ano antes de morrer.
A gravação em áudio limita-se a declarações de Cobain sobre sua vida, obra, família, amigos, medos, alegrias, entre outras coisas. Porém, para transformar em filme essas horas de gravação, o diretor AJ Schnack tinha um sério problema. O que fazer em relação às imagens que não tinha? A solução encontrada acabou sendo tão inusitada quanto bem-sucedida.
O que se vê na tela ao longo de uma hora e meia de falas de Cobain são imagens das cidades onde ele morou e citadas no filme - Aberdeen, Olympia e Seattle - e pessoas, ruas, lugares, livrarias, paisagens e afins.
Para fãs que se aproximam do filme esperando gravações de concertos dos Nirvana, "Kurt Cobain - Retrato de uma Ausência" pode ser frustrante. Para aqueles que esperam alguma grande revelação sobre o músico ou sua banda, também. Para aqueles que desejam um mergulho na alma de um artista no topo de sua criatividade e falando abertamente sobre sua vida, o documentário é compensador.
Ao longo de suas entrevistas a Azerrad, Cobain foi franco, abordando não apenas o óbvio - sexo, drogas e rock'n roll - mas também sua infância, problemas emocionais (diz ter sido diagnosticado com transtorno bipolar aos 9 anos), a mulher, Courtney Love (a quem só tece elogios), e, novamente, drogas (com as quais confessa ter chegado a gastar 400 dólares por dia).
Sem o propósito de desvendar o músico, "Kurt Cobain - Retrato de uma Ausência" concede, no entanto, o prazer de ouvi-lo falando sobre si mesmo com franqueza. Diversas vezes ele comenta sobre a ideia de matar-se com uma arma. Essas falas podem não esclarecer o acto que ele cometeu um ano mais tarde, mas não deixa de ser doloroso ouvir dele mesmo.
Ao longo do documentário, Cobain se mostra tão ingênuo quanto comovente, tão sincero quanto perigoso para si mesmo. Ele sabia como chegar aos corações e mentes das pessoas com sua música.
Já o diretor Schnack encontra a intersecção entre a música do Nirvana e como esta definiu a sua era, cheia de contradições, como bem dizem alguns versos da canção mais famosa da banda: "Aqui estamos agora, divirta-nos, eu me sinto estúpido e contagiante."
Embora se ressinta da falta de imagens de apresentações da banda - o que deve estar relacionado a direitos das músicas e de imagens - "Kurt Cobain - Retrato de uma Ausência" é um belo documentário sobre um músico e de como ele foi capaz de influenciar uma geração. Num momento, Cobain diz que "quando o rock morrer o mundo vai acabar". O rock ainda está vivo e o mundo continua - mas só se pode imaginar o que mais de tão brilhante o músico ainda teria feito pelos dois.

Pearl Jam ~ The Fixer

Grande capa para The Fixer, primeiro single do novo álbum dos Pearl Jam, Backspacer, a ser lançado a 20 de Setembro. O disco marca o reencontro da banda com o produtor Brendan O'Brien, com quem não trabalhavam desde Yield (1998); entre as produções mais recentes de O'Brien incluem-se Magic (2007) e Working on a Dream (2009), de Bruce Springsteen. Uma primeira amostra de The Fixer pode ser escutada no MySpace.

in Sound + Vision

Hobbits de volta

Hobbiton volta a viver. A rodagem de dois novos filmes baseados em O Hobbit, de Tolkien, levaram à recuperação dos cenários da pequena cidade onde residia Bilbo Baggins, Frodo e demais hobbits, na trilogia O Senhor dos Anéis. Falando há poucos dias no Comic Con, em san Diego, Peter Jackson (que produz os filmes), negou que o papel de Bilbo Baggins estivesse já atribuído a um qualquer actor. Já houve notícias sobre a possível presença de Ian McKellen novamente como Gandalf e Andy Serkis como Gollum... Guillermo del Toro será o realizador. A rodagem decorrerá em 2010, estando a estreia do primeiro filme prevista para Dezembro de 2011.

Was 1979 the last great year for pop?

Does pop music matter now, or has it turned into pap? I find myself increasingly asking this question, and fear that I'm becoming an archetypal anti-youth, middle-aged specimen myopically revisiting a mythical golden era. But am I?
It was 30 years ago when my family moved from the countryside to the town and I plunged headlong into the pop realm. It was the same year Smash Hits and the Sony Walkman were launched. I was eight years old and religiously taped the top 40 every Sunday. Though I didn't realise it then, there was a revolution happening in pop, usurping the tired old guard.
A cursory glance of 1979's top 10s shows that sandwiched between Elton John's Your Song and Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond's horrendous duet You Don't Bring Me Flowers, was Ian Dury and the Blockheads' Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick at No 6. We didn't understand the song's playful connotations then, but the line "I like to be a lunatic" was appealing.Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2), an unlikely Christmas No 1, became a playground chant for us nascent rebels: "We don't need no education, we don't need no thought control." In our Victorian primary school, we deliberately kicked our feet so we didn't have to eat spotted dick with pink custard. And as for the frequent corporal punishment, at least we had Roger Waters to stick up for us. By November 1979, the mod revival was in full flow with the Jam's Eton Rifles. At the same time 2 Tone fully reared its head, with the Specials, Selecter and Madness all appearing on the same Top of the Pops show, and new wave reached critical mass with Squeeze, Elvis Costello, Gary Numan and the Pretenders filling Smash Hits' pages. The Skids and XTC flexidisc given away with the first issue underlined the mass appeal of the new pop aesthetic.
Pop and minimalist nihilism became bedfellows with M's Pop Muzik and the Flying Lizards' Money, while Tubeway Army's Are "Friends" Electric? and the Buggles' Video Killed the Radio Star both marvelled and feared a future shock. Pop was, as the Police's No 1 suggested, like Walking On the Moon.
While 1979's pop revolution negated the tacky glam-pop formula, the counter-revolution of Stock, Aitken and Waterman in the mid 80s turned pop back to meaningless manufactured mush. Never before had so many outlandish ideas as those of 1979 been so mass-consumed, and at a time when single sales were at a peak. The pop world that my eight-year-old daughter now inhabits is sadly bereft of Smash Hits and Top of the Pops, and instead is suffocated by the utter schmaltz of X Factor and High School Musical, with only the occasional, rather faux-radical, rehash of 1979-style music (yes, you, the Enemy) hitting a largely irrelevant hit parade. Given that the 1979 pop revolution coincided with the reign of Margaret Thatcher – new-funk escapism and anthems of tangible anger – our only hope now is that David Cameron's assent to PM spurs on a new dawn of hard-biting pop gems as the Tories proceed to wreck the nation.

in: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2009/jul/24/1979-last-great-year-pop

Dexter para breve ... YES

A quarta temporada chega em Setembro!

Mad Gregs

Ando sempre à cata de novas coisas na área da música. Estes loucos são bem simpáticos e a sua música faz lembrar os Fleet Foxes, logo penso que os vou seguir com atenção.
Fica aqui a música Safe in Sound e o seu clip.

Sunday Morning everyday...without church...

Esta música é para mim o simbolo de uma nova vida e uma nova perpectiva dessa vida, por isso considero que é talvez a música que me transmite mais inner peace. Fiquei curioso quando Beck resolveu fazer uma versão dessa preciosidade e posto aqui para que tirem conclusões... quanto a mim a versão está espectacular e o vídeo nem se fala, assombroso, de repente estamos em 1967 em estúdio com a Nico , Cale , Reed e Sterling Morrison e MacAlise. Oiçam, vejam e digam da vossa alma se não é algo fabuloso...42 anos depois.

Hey man ... You're on the moon!

Cinebiografia de Andy Kaufman (Jim Carrey), considerado o mais excêntrico, inovador e enigmático comediante de seu tempo. Um mestre em provocar o público, Kaufman podia gerar gargalhadas, um silêncio sepulcral, lágrimas ou até mesmo brigas, o que lhe valeu a fama de gênio da comédia americana. Um homem na lua em todo o seu explendor.

O título é o mesmo de uma canção dos R.E.M. — incluída no álbum Automatic for the People (1992) e no próprio filme —, canção que homenageia Kaufman através de um tocante e desconcertante barroquismo lírico:


If you believed they put a man on moon
Man on the moon
If you believed there's nothing up his sleeve
Then nothing is cool

Concerto do movimento Rock the Vote: os R.E.M., com Bruce Springsteen, interpretam Man on the Moon.

The Dead Weather

Alison Mosshart e Jack White um pouco zangados e a querer que os tratemos como se fossem a nossa mãe...

Tá bem.


The Dead Weather - Treat Me Like Your Mother
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Joy Division man appeals for return of Ian Curtis' memorial

Joy Division and New Order drummer Stephen Morris has spoken to NME.COM about the recent stealing of Ian Curtis' gravestone..Hearing that the stone had been taken from its site at a cemetery in Macclesfield, Morris said he could not comprehend why someone would take it."I just don't understand why anyone would do it," he said. "You couldn't sell it on eBay - it's ridiculous and very upsetting."He added: "There had been the [Joy Division] films (the 2007 'Control' movie and the recent eponymous documentary) so maybe someone thought they could cash in… or maybe it's someone who is a bit deranged - you'd have to be."The drummer explained that he and those associated with the band and Curtis' family were upset by the theft."I'm speechless. It really is not a very nice thing at all," he said. Morris then urged the culprit to "have a bit of dignity about it" and to anonymously leave the gravestone somewhere it could be found.

in MNE

Joy Division cover designer Peter Saville makes rare LA appearance

Renowned designer Peter Saville, who created iconic album covers for bands including Joy Division, New Order, Suede and Roxy Music, gave his first ever public discussion in Los Angeles about his work last night (April 1).

The Manchester native took part in a Q&A in Beverly Hills in which he discussed his time working with Tony Wilson at Factory Records in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and the Hacienda nightclub, as well as his new role as Creative Director for the City of Manchester.

"We founded Factory Records out of idealism and naivety," he said of the legendary label that was home to Joy Division, New Order and Happy Mondays. He went on to explain that the first money the label made came after Joy Division's singer Ian Curtis died, and they didn't know what to do with it.

"There was a hole in the ground in Manchester and we proceeded to throw Joy Division's money into it and then New Order's," he said, referring to the Hacienda nightclub where the 'Madchester' scene was born.

Speaking about his design philosophy, he said, "I made things the way I wanted them to look. I made covers as objects I wanted to have in my life." He admitted to learning from his clients including Pulp's Jarvis Cocker and Roxy Music's Bryan Ferry.

Lastly, he touched on his new role promoting arts in the northern English industrial city. "Coming from a second city that's not the capitol helps you raise your game, and that's a good thing," he said.

The Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess spun tunes at a reception following the discussion.

in NME

1º vídeo dos Alice In Chains

Depois de divulgar o áudio de "A Looking in View" Os Alice In Chains liberaram no seu site oficial o vídeo completo da música. O novo álbum do grupo de Seattle vai se chamar Black Gives Way to Blues, o primeiro desde Alice In Chains, de 1995. O trabalho também já tem data de lançamento definida: 29 de setembro.
Nick Raskulinecz, produtor responsável pelo disco, já trabalhou com Rush e Foo Fighters, e está no estúdio com os integrantes Jerry Cantrell (guitarra e voz), Sean Kinney (bateria) e Mike Inez (baixo) desde outubro de 2008.
William DuVall, da banda Comes With The Fall, ocupa o lugar deixado por Layne Staley. O vocalista original da banda grunge morreu de overdose em 2002 e a reunião dos membros remanescentes do Alice In Chains começou a tomar forma em 2005 após um espectáculo em prol das vítimas do tsunami na Indonésia. A apresentação foi a primeira de várias com DuVall nas vozes.

The Burning Plain

Vi esta semana um filme que me surpreendeu pela positiva. Foi escrito e realizado por Guillermo Arriaga, de 21 Gramas e Babel. História muito bem escrita e bem interpretada, com um leque de actores como estes, Charlize Theron ; Kim Basinger ; Jennifer Lawrence; José María Yazpik e Joaquim de Almeida , de outra coisa não poderia estar à espera.Um filme fácil de se ver e ao mesmo tempo vai dando murros , ainda que suaves, no estômago. É um filme que trata de histórias simples, que se passa no México (que saudades...) que têm tudo que é necessário para se tornarem complicadas. Vai estrear a 26 de Novembro de 2009 em Portugal e eu aconselho nem que não seja para aclarear as ideias depois da miséria que são os filmes de Verão.

Aqui vai o trailer oficial

40 anos depois : Space Oddity

David Bowie vai reeditar o clássico single de 1969 Space Oddity, não apenas para celebrar o 40º aniversário do seu lançamento, mas também para assinalar os 40 anos da chegada do homem à Lua. Space Oddity será reeditado a 20 de Julho (o dia em que Neil Armstrong fez História), surgindo a canção disponível em quatro versões: versão mono do single inglês, versão mono do single americano, versão estéreo do single americano e ainda uma regravação de 1979. Estará disponível também uma versão extra, com as oito pistas da gravação original em separado, convidado cada um a fazer a sua remistura da canção.

Para quem está a descobrir o mito do século XX isto poderá ajudar...

The Doors Discography
The Doors albums.
The Doors - 1967 (Elektra)
Strange Days - 1967 (Elektra)
Waiting For The Sun - 1968 (Elektra)
The Soft Parade - 1969 (Elektra)
Morrison Hotel - 1970 (Elektra)
Absolutely Live - 1970 (Elektra)
L.A. Woman - 1971 (Elektra)
Other Voices - 1971 (Elektra)
Full Circle - 1972 (Elektra)
An American Prayer - 1978 (Elektra)
Alive, She Cried - 1983 (Elektra)
Live At The Hollywood Bowl - 1987 (Elektra)
The Doors - 1991 (Elektra)
Bright Midnight: Live In America - 2001 (Elektra)
Live In Hollywood: Highlights From The Aquarius Theatre Performances - 2002 (Elektra)
Live In Detroit - 2006 (Rhino)
Friday, April 10 At Boston Arena - 2007 (Rhino)
Live In Pittsburgh 1970 - 2008 (Rhino)
The Golden Scarab - 2004 (Lemon)

The Doors Videos & DVD's
The Doors video and DVD releases.
Dance On Fire: Classic Performances & Greatest Hits - 1985 (Pioneer)
Live At The Hollywood Bowl - 1987 (Elektra)
A Tribute To Jim Morrison - 1988 (Warner Home Video)
Live In Europe 1968 - 1989 (Atlantic)
The Soft Parade: A Retrospective - 1991 (MCA)
The Doors Are Open - 1992 (Warner Home Video)
The Best Of The Doors - 1997 (Universal)
30 Years Commemorative Edition - 2001 (Universal)
VH1 Storytellers - The Doors: A Celebration - 2001 (Aviva International)
The Doors Of The 21st Century: L.A. Woman Live - 2004 (BMG)
Classic Albums: The Doors - 2008 (Eagle Vision)

The Doors Books
The Doors bibliography.
Jim Morrison And The Doors: An Unauthorized Book - Mike Jahn
An American Prayer - Jim Morrison
The Lords & The New Creatures - Jim Morrison
Jim Morrison Au Dela Des Doors - Herve Muller
No One Here Gets Out Alive - Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman
Burn Down The Night - Craig Kee Strete
Jim Morrison: The Story Of The Doors In Words And Pictures - Jim Morrison
Jim Morrison: An Hour For Magic - Frank Lisciandro
The Doors: The Illustrated History - Danny Sugerman
The Doors - John Tobler and Andrew Doe
Jim Morrison: Dark Star - Dylan Jones
Images Of Jim Morrison - Edward Wincentsen
The End: The Death Of Jim Morrison - Bob Seymore
The American Night: The Writings Of Jim Morrison - Jim Morrison
The American Night Volume 2 - Jim Morrison
Morrison: A Feast Of Friends - Frank Lisciandro
Light My Fire - John Densmore
Riders On The Storm: My Life With Jim Morrison And The Doors - John Densmore
The Doors Complete Illustrated Lyrics - Danny Sugerman (ed.)
Break On Through: The Life And Death Of Jim Morrison - James Riordan and Jerry Prochnicky
The Doors: Lyrics, 1965-71 - no author
The Lizard King: The Essential Jim Morrison - Jerry Hopkins
The Doors: Dance On Fire - Ross Clarke
The Complete Guide To The Music Of The Doors - Peter K. Hogan
The Doors: Moonlight Drive - Chuck Crisafulli
Wild Child: Life With Jim Morrison - Linda Ashcroft
The Tragic Romance Of Pamela & Jim Morrison - Patricia Butler
Light My Fire: My Life With The Doors - Ray Manzarek
The Doors: When The Music's Over: The Stories Behind Every Song - Chuck Crisafulli and Dave DiMartino
Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend - Stephen Davis
People Are Strange: The Ultimate Guide To The Doors - Doug Sandling
The Doors By The Doors - the Doors with Ben Fong-Torres

The Doors - Jim Morrison death theory questioned

Did he really die of heart failure?

The way in which The Doors singer Jim Morrison died has been called into question.A nightclub manager challenged the belief Morrison died of heart failure in a bath.In a new book Sam Bernett claims Morrison died in a toilet cubicle in his Paris club in 1971 after what he believes was a heroin overdose.Two drugs dealers then took Morrison’s body back to his apartment and dropped it in his bath in an unsuccessful bid to revive him.However, Paris prosecutors said they were unlikely to re-examine Morrison’s death.In Bernett’s book ’The End: Jim Morrison’, the nighclub manager says he asked a doctor to examine The Doors singer in the toilet of his Rock And Roll Circus nightclub on July 3, 1971.He writes: "When we found him dead, he had a little foam on his nose, and some blood too, and the doctor said, 'That must be an overdose of heroin'."Bernett says he was pestered for years by reporters investigating Morrison’s death, but kept his story quiet until his wife suggested writing a book last year.Morrison’s late girlfriend Pamela Courson told the police a different story.She said that the couple went to the movies and out for dinner on the night of the singer's death before they listened to records and fell asleep. According to his testimony, Morrison awoke in the night feeling ill and took a hot bath. Courson said she found him dead in the tub.However, Stephen Davis, author of the book 'Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend' believes that while Morrison overdosed at Bernett’s nightclub he survived the experience.He told BBC News: “It just seems likely that if he died in the toilet of a nightclub it would have come out before now."

in: http://www.nme.com/news/the-doors/29655

The Doors legal drama nears its end

It may cost original members millions

The Doors' ongoing legal dispute looks like it is poised to come to an end, now that the California Supreme Court has refused to let it go further.Keyboardist Ray Manzarek and guitarist Robby Krieger will likely have to pay more than $5 million to drummer John Densmore and singer Jim Morrison's parents for allegedly using The Doors' name without proper permission during their 2003 tour with Ian Astbury of The Cult as lead singer. "You can't call yourselves The Doors because you can't have The Doors without Jim Morrison," stated Densmore's attorney.Manzarek and Krieger appealed a court's 2005 decision ordering the new band to stop using "The Doors" in any form and to pay the parents $3.2 million, plus $2 million in legal costs. An appeals court upheld the decision, and the Supreme Court has now refused to hear their claim that the $2 million in legal fees is excessive, reports the Associated Press.The basis of the dispute is a 1970 agreement signed by the four original band members, including Morrison, stating that all four members would have to agree to any business deals.

Scientists show how Jim Morrison would have looked if he was still alive

Scientists have created an image showing what The Doors' singer Jim Morrison would have looked like if he were still alive today.Morrison died at the age of 27, after suffering a heart attack in Paris on July 3 1971. He would have turned 65 today (December 8).Researchers at St Andrews University used computer 'ageing' software to reproduce an image of Morrison as a 65-year-old, showing changes in his skin, hairline and hair colour, reports BBC News.The scientists have previously reproduced similar images of John Lennon, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley.As NME.COM previously reported, The Doors' Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger are to celebrate Morrison's 65th birthday at Barney's Beanery - one of the singer's famed Los Angeles hangouts.

in - nme

The Duckworth Lewis Method

The Duckworth Lewis Method, prior to being a budding offshoot of Neil Hannon's The Divine Comedy, has been known as a mutually accepted way of endeavouring to settle a cricket match that has fallen foul of the weather.
Already the parallels are irresistible. Since the UK, and the world in general, has fallen foul of the weather in all sorts of ways this year, what better way of settling the score and providing some sunshine than a concept album about cricket?
Before you sigh deeply at the thought of an album played out over five days, with intervals for lunch, tea and cucumber sandwiches, fear not - for the game of cricket, as Hannon recognises, has moved on to a new era, where "now we're driving Bentleys, playing 20-20".
Hannon's partner in crime is fellow Irishman and Pugwash member Thomas Walsh, and together they walk into bat, humming a set of catchy tunes punctuated with very English observations. For this isn't just an album about the thwack of willow on leather - it recognises a form of Englishness in danger of falling by the wayside.
It's also strongly biographical. Jiggery Pokery sets the scene for the Old Trafford Ashes test of 1993, when Shane Warne announced his arrival to the sporting world with the 'ball of the century', bowling Mike Gatting with a ball that defied gravity. In this setting it's as if Gatting met up with Gilbert & Sullivan on his way back to the pavilion, the hilarious lyrics applied to a Nellie-The-Elephant-style backing. The batsman, presumed to be thinking of his lunch, is out for a "buggering duck", proclaiming "I hate Shane Warne!" as he stalks off.
For this he receives a starry backing of slip fielders, with Alexander Armstrong and Phill Jupitus among those drafted in to twang their braces and shout "baboon" at regular intervals, the knees-up gathering momentum.
Just as good is lead single The Age Of Revolution, a mixture of traditional jazz and old-style reggae set over a sample of brass from a bygone era, the cheeky riff backing proclamations of cricket unity "from Bangalore to Kingston". It's cricket as Lord Kitchener might have remembered it, when the Commonwealth was more widely accepted.
Elsewhere, Messrs Hannon and Walsh delight in how they're "meeting Mr Miandad" on a trip to Pakistan, while "Mason's gone to Zanzibar, underneath his Panama" (Mason On The Boundary). They exploit the limitless potential for double meaning in the lyrics, hitting The Sweet Spot in the middle of the bat, "sweet as apple pie". Meanwhile The Nightwatchman arrives at the crease in times of adversity, his acts of self sacrifice framed by distinctly Elgarian strings. There's even time to dodge the showers with an oboe-led instrumental, Rain Stops Play.
With not a dot ball or an overthrow, The Duckworth Lewis Method is an unqualified success. The first Ashes test between England and Australia starts two days after the physical release of this album - and if you've any sense, you'll be playing this record over lunch, tea, and dinner on all five days.

a Perfect birthDay today

Lou Reed - Perfect day


with
 Radiohead - No surprises


you

 Radiohead - Lucky