I'd Love to Turn You On #243 - The Killers - Sam's Town (2006)

            When The Killers' debut album Hot Fuss came out in 2004 I begged and begged my dad to take me to see them at City Stages in Birmingham the next year. They played the entire album and I was hooked instantly; I became a forever fan and my poor dad had to stand there with a screaming teenage girl. I still wear the t-shirt I got at the show and am amazed it still fits me. I guess it’s just that Killers magic. When their second studio album Sam’s Town came out the year after that I instantly went out and bought the CD and later when I got my first turntable it was the first new record I bought with my own money. It was a departure from the synth and auto-tune featured heavily in Hot Fuss, while still being very much a Killers album at its core. It’s a love letter to Las Vegas - where the members either grew up or moved to when they were young, and where the band formed.

            I guess a little background on the band will make their love of Las Vegas and the Sam’s Town Hotel and Gambling Hall make a little more sense. Lead singer Brandon Flowers, drummer Ronnie Vannucci Jr. and bassist Mark Stoermer grew up in Las Vegas while guitarist Dave Keuning moved there in his early 20’s. But all four of them met in the City of Sin under the bright lights and formed The Killers in 2001. As a child Stoermer could see the Sam’s Town Hotel and Gambling Hall sign from his bedroom window. Las Vegas gave them an edge that they couldn’t have gotten anywhere else. The album was even recorded in Las Vegas. With Vegas in their hearts and minds they as a group decided to move away from the new wave Brit-pop sound of Hot Fuss and record an album that sounded more like where they came from.

            Sam’s Town kicks off with the title track, a larger than life rock anthem. It gives you the feeling of walking down the Las Vegas Strip at night soaking in all of the bright lights and big sounds. It comes from a place in Flowers' heart, because he grew up doing just that. Two of my favorite things about Sam’s Town are the “Enterlude” and “Exitlude” tracks bookending the album. You can imagine Flowers as a lounge singer in a casino, welcoming in patrons as the night begins and softly letting them know it’s time to go when the sun comes up. My other two favorites off Sam’s Town, “Uncle Johnny” and “Bones,” fill in the sex and drugs part of “sex, drugs and rock & roll” for the album. “Uncle Johnny” is raw and feels like a person strung out on cocaine while living it up in Las Vegas. “Bones” is a throwback to the synth-pop sound from Hot Fuss, but with a little more Mojave Desert dirt mixed in. Both tracks don’t hold anything back and that is what makes them stand out on this album.

The Killers didn’t hold anything back when making this album, and while most reviews of the album were not stellar, the album holds true to their Las Vegas roots and that desert sound. It isn’t flashy, it doesn’t try to copy their sound from Hot Fuss, and it stands alone in the pantheon of Killers albums. It’s raw, it’s dusty and it’s very Las Vegas. While Hot Fuss tends to get all the glory, Sam’s Town in my opinion is a truly Killers album. They made it the way they wanted, they recorded it where they wanted and to me it works, even if the rest of the world didn’t seem to think so.

P.S. Brandon Flowers' debut solo album Flamingo is also a beautiful heartfelt love letter to the city of Las Vegas and is well worth a listen.

- Anna Lathem

I’d Love To Turn You On At The Movies #228 - The Host (2006, dir. Bong Joon-ho)

            Meet the Park family, proprietors of a snack stand along the touristy Han River in the South Korean capital of Seoul:

Gang-Du, the eldest son of the generous and caring widower Hie-bong, Gang-Du’s wife left him with their precocious young daughter Hyun-seo years ago and left him emotionally arrested at that stage in his life.

Nam-Joo, Hie-bong’s youngest, a champion archer with a penchant for choking when the pressure is on.

Nam-il, the educated activist middle child who has been unable to find gainful employment despite his education and who drinks to cover up his anger.

Hie-bong, the gentle patriarch who is struggling to care for his family economically, and who is ready to fight to hold them together.

Hyun-seo, youngest of the Park clan, trying to succeed in school despite a difficult upbringing and a father who, though he tries his best, fails her in many ways.

While the Parks work their snack stand, miles away an American military scientist examines the contents of his laboratory with his Korean assistant, sees hundreds of bottles of chemicals he deems to be spoiled, and has a conversation that culminates in the words “That’s right, let’s dump them in the Han River” - we know this can’t be good. Sure enough, shortly the local fisherman begin to notice fewer fish, and some of the ones they catch seem… different, perhaps with more tails than they usually have, and also perhaps a little more bite-y than usual. A man preparing to jump off a bridge sees a huge black shape moving in the water but can’t tell what it is.

And instead of spending half the film building up to the reveal of the monster as in most monster classics (Alien, Jaws, King Kong), we’re suddenly right into the thick of it - a mutated, amphibious monster that resembles a giant, dangerous tadpole with legs and too many teeth is running rampant along the walkways of the Han, crushing and flinging aside onlookers, grabbing some with its mouth or its tail, going in and out of the water. Naturally this happens right by the Park family stand at the most crowded and busy time of day, and as the monster runs wild through the crowd Gang-Du sees young Hyun-seo in danger and springs into action intent on protecting his family, one of the few onlookers who dares to assault the beast instead of running away screaming. But the monster nabs Hyun-seo with its tail, flees back to the water and off to its lair. Shortly afterward those who have come into contact with the monster are quarantined by the military because of their exposure to a virus the beast is carrying, and this includes the entire Park family. And so begins the meat of the film - the family coming together over their longstanding personal difficulties to find Hyun-seo. Which means that they not only have to find the monster's hidden lair in the city, but also evade the authorities who want them locked up and away from the general populace as they prepare to test a new chemical agent to destroy the beast - and possibly sell it for chemical warfare in the future.

Gang-Du (Bong regular Kang-ho Song) is both funny and touching as the eldest son, a slacker father lamenting his departed wife and dotingly focused on his daughter Hyun-seo (superbly played by Ko Asung), suddenly awakened out of his torpor to rescue his captured child. The film follows out many threads of the progress of different family members - Gang-du’s younger archer sister, his activist younger brother, and his father Hie-bong trying to keep them all together (and who, like his surprisingly active slacker son, is a real fighter when it comes to the monster). And of course there's resourceful young Hyun-seo, cool-headed under threat of being eaten by the mutant tadpole threatening all of Seoul.

Bong Joon-Ho's ease in genre - and also rejection of it - is a major plus here. Like all his films (that I've seen), he starts with what appears to be a straightforward genre piece and slowly sends it off the rails until it's something else entirely. Is this a thriller about a government cover-up? A family drama? A giant monster horror film? A black comedy? The answer is yes to all of those things. And the reason I've spent so much time talking about the family is because Bong took the time to think about them as well - he invests what could be a tawdry CGI-centric genre piece with real, flawed, believable people (helped immensely by an excellent cast who make us care about their foibles, about their problems), and helps us believe it when a giant killer tadpole snatches their daughter to its hidden lair to be eaten at a later time.

If you need a great horror film for your October viewing, check this one. If you need to see the earlier work of this year's Palme d'Or winning director, check this one (and also check out the superb Memories of Murder, itself another genre-defying genre film - this time a police procedural) before you go see the excellent Parasite when it opens. But really, Bong Joon-Ho hasn't stepped wrong in anything I've yet seen - I started with The Host and have yet to be disappointed, and you won't be either.

-         Patrick Brown

I’d Love To Turn You On At The Movies #223 - Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006, dir. Goran Dukić)

            While the title of the film may be a touch off putting, the actual movie Wristcutters: A Love Story is far from it. The film is labeled as a “black comedy road movie” which pretty much hits the nail on the head. When describing the film to people I would say that kid from Almost Famous, that girl from A Knight's Tale and a guy who reminds you of Gogol Bordello front man Eugene Hütz set off on a road trip to find an ex-girlfriend and the “people in charge” in the afterlife. Along the way they meet a real cast of characters, jam out to some great road trip tunes and discover that maybe there is a way to get out of this dull version of the world of the living.

            I guess the first thing I should address is the fact that this movie is about people who commit suicide. There is no shying away from talking about suicide in the film; in fact you find out exactly how every character “offed” themselves. In the opening scene Zia (Patrick Fugit) gets up, puts on Tom Waits' “Dead and Lovely,” deep cleans his apartment, goes into the bathroom, and slits his wrists. Zia ends up in this shitty version of the world of the living, where there are only off-brand products, everything is dim, there are no stars, and no one can smile. Zia meets Eugene (Shea Whigham), a Russian musician who lives with his mother, father and younger brother - all of whom “offed” themselves. Zia learns from a friend that his ex-girlfriend Desiree (Leslie Bibb) has also “offed” herself. Eugene and Zia take off to find her in Eugene’s beat up car. The car itself is a character. The headlights don’t work and there is no mechanic that has ever been able to fix them; there's also a black hole of sorts under the front passenger seat - you drop something down there and it’s gone forever. The trio loses sunglasses, cassette tapes, lighters, maps, and flowers into this black hole.

Eugene and Zia pick up Mikal (Shannyn Sossamon) who is looking for the “people in charge” and insists that she is there by mistake, claiming she accidently overdosed. The trio encounter a man asleep in the middle of the road (Tom Waits) who introduces himself as Kneller and invites them back to his camp where "miracles" seem to happen. If there is one thing I love about Waits it’s that he pops up in films and proceeds to just be his odd Tom Waits self, almost like the film makers just let the cameras roll on him being himself. Not far from this camp is a large gathering of people who are there to witness Messiah King (Will Arnett) perform the “miracle” of separating his soul from his body. Arnett gives off some serious G.O.B. (his character from Arrested Development) vibes as Messiah King. I’m not going to give away the ending, because honestly it cracked me up the first time I saw it, and hopefully the hard left turn in story line will crack you up as well.

            I can’t talk about this film without talking about the music in it. What’s a good road trip movie without some seriously great tunes? Even before the road trip there are very strategically chosen songs in the film. Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart” and Christian Death’s “Deathwish” are heard playing in the bar Zia and Eugene frequent. Both bands were fronted by singers who committed suicide and it seems these songs were chosen exactly for that reason. Artie Shaw’s version of “Gloomy Sunday” - also known as the “Hungarian Suicide Song” - makes an appearance in the film. The song's lyrics of longing for a past lover and a vow to meet back up in the afterlife fit in with Zia’s drive to find his ex-girlfriend Desiree. Del Shannon’s “Cry Myself to Sleep” and Gram Parsons' “A Song for You” add to the melancholy feeling of the film. A cassette tape of Eugene’s band (pre-“offing” himself) provides most of the soundtrack for the drive. The fictional band is in reality gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello. This was my introduction to Gogol Bordello, and more specifically the song “Through the Roof 'N' Underground” which is featured multiple times and also happens to be my favorite of their songs. The slow-moving, twangy, somewhat sad song fits in perfectly with the drab, desolate desert world the characters find themselves road tripping through - there is even a fun little singalong in the car to it! The character of Eugene is based in part on Gogol Bordello front man Eugene Hütz, which makes sense seeing as three of their songs are in the film. "Occurrence on the Border" and "Huliganjetta" are both featured, though not as heavily as “Through the Roof 'N' Underground.”

            Wristcutters: A Love Story was one of the first “black comedy” movies I felt like I understood both the black and the comedy parts. The use of a very bleak setting for this version of the afterlife plus the fact that the characters were still put in situations that are humorous give the film a lighter touch. I say it is well worth a watch, not just for the soundtrack and wonderful cast of characters but also the idea that even in this afterlife there is a chance these characters will find love and possibly a happy ending.

-         Anna Lathem

I'd Love to Turn You On #212 - TV on the Radio – Return to Cookie Mountain

           Last Wednesday I witnessed one of those magical moments that can only happen at Red Rocks. TV on the Radio opened for Father John Misty and drew an impressive crowd so early in the night. As light began to fade from the sky about halfway through their set, vocalist Tunde Adebimpe mused in a playful sing-song voice, “I see the moon and the moon sees me.” The band gave the audience a moment to turn around and regard the crescent moon rising between the amphitheater’s rock formations before launching into a blistering rendition of their biggest hit, “Wolf Like Me.” Just as the moon triggers a supernatural transformation within the song, it played a key role in morphing the relatively subdued audience into an ecstatic, howling mass during the song. The enduring appeal of “Wolf Like Me” hints at what makes Return to Cookie Mountain, one of this young century’s greatest albums.

 

TV on the Radio built on the promise of their debut EP, Young Liars, and their dynamic first full-length album, Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes, and delivered a mind-blowing collection of genre-defying, cathartic songs with Return to Cookie Mountain. Looking back, I remember how much I looked forward to the release of Return to Cookie Mountain in the summer of 2006. Sure, I had enjoyed the band’s first couple of releases, but I had a feeling that this new album would help me get through the very challenging times I was going through personally and professionally. Well, the album certainly didn’t disappoint me and the opening track, “I Was a Lover,” provided a well-tailored soundtrack and a much needed outlet to transcend the miserable situation surrounding me. Through the orchestrated cacophony of an overdriven bass drum, a sorrowful horn sample, layers of glitchy distortion, and countless other sonic elements, Kyp Malone and Adebimpe inject passion and anguish into Malone’s brainy, surreal lyrics that capture the fever-dream paranoia that results from the implosion of a relationship. “Province” treads on similar thematic territory, but ascends with a tentative sense of hope and optimism for what the future holds. David Bowie joins Malone and Adebimpe on vocals for this song and not only helps create one of this band’s finest moments, but also marks a highlight among his late career collaborations. When the band played the Boulder Theater three years ago, Malone introduced “Blues from Down Here” by skewing the now common on-stage banter about legal marijuana in Colorado and asked the audience if they would seek justice for those who have been imprisoned under severe drug laws. This literal application of Malone’s harrowing metaphor within the song surprised me at the time, but has helped me appreciate the layers of meaning contained in this haunting perspective of isolation, oppression, and hopelessness.

As much as I love Return to Cookie Mountain, I have to admit that a lot of what makes it such an amazing work can also weigh it down if you’re not feeling up for taking the album’s emotional journeys. In 2008, when TV on the Radio released their next album, Dear Science, I was delighted that the band offered up a bright, beautiful set of songs as complex, innovative, and satisfying as their earlier work. Two of that album’s high points, “Golden Age” and “Lover’s Day,” feel like intentional counter-balances to the heaviness of Return to Cookie Mountain. In 2011, the band released Nine Types of Light, an album I’ve liked, but never really loved (a point I’ve had to debate repeatedly with a number of TVOTR fans over the years). Three years later, TV on the Radio’s fifth album, Seeds, won me back with a set of concise, polished, and upbeat songs proving that these remarkable musicians still have plenty of room for exploration and expression.

-         John Parsell