Interview with the Epilogues

The Epilogues have been called the hardest working band in Denver. They've played almost every venue in Denver and have put their foot down solidly in the local scene. Earlier this year they were signed by a local label and shortly thereafter got national attention with the debut single, “The Fallout.” We are lucky enough to have them come perform for us, here at Twist & Shout on October 2nd, and they were gracious enough to answer a few questions for me.

 

Who or what got you into music to begin with?

I think most of us grew up with music in the house. Both Nate and I (Chris) had mothers who sang, and I know Jason’s dad played the drums. I’m not sure about Jeff’s family, but I do know there was A LOT of pop punk in his upbringing. We don’t hold it against him, but we do tease him about it from time to time.

What is it that first drew you to the synthesizer?

I remember buying my first real synth. It was like 2000/2001 and those stupid all-in-one workstations were a huge craze at the time, but they sounded like complete shit. I remember trying out about 15 different keyboards until I came across a Roland JP-8000. At the time I was listening to NIN’s The Fragile and Moby’s Play. Again, it was the year 2000, haha. But I finally found a synth that spoke to me, and was tonally comparable to the style. In the long run, I’m really fortunate that I chose the JP-8000. The synth itself has like 40 knobs and sliders on the front. At the time I had no clue what the hell I was doing, but it forced me to learn about synthesis from the ground up.

Who were you inspired by growing up?

I listened to a lot of The Beatles growing up. There was a good amount of Billy Joel and George Michael as well. I know Nate listened to a lot of Soul/R&B. Jason listened to pretty much anything. I think mainly punk and other rock music. But Jeff, pop punk all the way!

What have you taken with you into who you are now from those inspirations?

I put a lot if stock into our songwriting. There are so many bands out there that I call “soundchasers.” They put so much focus into their sound, but there isn’t much going on with the song itself. Ultimately, once the trends change, they’re left with nothing. I definitely appreciate good songwriting. If the song is good, it doesn’t really matter how it’s produced. It will always be good, and it can always be re-recorded/produced to sound a specific way. I think the Beatles are a perfect example.

The Epilogues have been called the hardest working band in Denver; you guys have played every venue in town. What are some of your favorites?

Red Rocks was hands down the most impressive. However, we probably played 30+ shows at the Marquis Theatre. That place will always be a home to us.

How do you feel the band has grown since its inception in 2004?

Considerably! We started out right around the time The Killers blew up. At the time, they were really the first band that used synth in dance/pop. We listened to bands like NIN and the Prodigy, but this was the first time that synths in indie rock made sense. I think we latched onto their sound as a starting point, and grew from there. Granted, we were just awful when we started out, but we were passionate and driven. Over time we learned to refine our sound, and it eventually became what it is today.

In April 2012 the band was signed to the Greater Than Collective label and in July got “The Fallout” accepted by MTV and VH1. How has this changed The Epilogues’ vision of themselves as a band?

It’s a great feeling having the resources and support to follow our passion. We’ve been DIY for most of our careers, and to finally have a team as involved and supportive as Greater Than is absolutely incredible. I think “The Fallout” was just a stepping off point – we just premiered our first single, “Paradigm Shift,” in Rolling Stone - and I can’t wait to see how the rest of the album is received.

The video for “The Fallout” is beautiful. Where did the idea come from and who worked on it with you guys?

Dillon Novak was the brainchild behind all of our videos. Dillon came to us a few years ago needing a band to fill in for a video shoot. We actually missed the opportunity and Brightwood got the video. However, it gave us the introduction we needed. I remember we wanted to film a video for “Hunting Season.” So we (Dillon included) literally scrapped together all the cash we could. We had about twenty people on crew volunteering their time, and we shot the video in one day. It was one of the best times we’ve had in this band. After that we followed up with a video for “The Fallout.” We brought on Greg Ephraim as cinematographer and had a considerably larger budget thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign. Dillon drew up the treatment again and we shot in two days. Despite the cold, it was a great experience!

As often as you guys play how hard is it to find time to sit down and write?

That’s actually one of the hardest parts about being in a band. It’s a full time job keeping the business side thriving, so it can be tricky keeping up on practicing. We’ve had to become more diligent about fitting in practice, despite our hectic schedules. When we don’t practice, we tend to lose focus and forget why we enjoy this in the first place.

What's your process for songwriting at this point?

Typically I (Chris) do the initial songwriting. It’s more like giving the band a roadmap. From there, everyone gives their input and it usually takes on a new sound or direction.

It's been a little while since The Epilogues have released a full album. Can we expect one soon?

Yes, our new album, Cinematics, will be releasing in Denver Oct 2, 2012 at Twist and Shout. We’re playing our release show on Oct 6, 2012 at Summit Music Hall. Cinematics will release nationally on Nov 6, 2012.

            - Natja

I'd Love to Turn You On At the Movies #48 - Hard Boiled (1992, dir. John Woo)

Some exercises in genre simply transcend the genres they are part of – such is the case with John Woo’s 1992 action-crime film Hard Boiled. The story is pure pulp, modeled after your standard issue American cop-buddy films. On the one hand we have our loose cannon cop who plays by his own rules and gets results but is constantly at odds with his supervisor who has assigned him to a gun-running gang case, on the other an assassin working for an established crime family under siege from a ruthless up-and-coming crime boss who wants all the gun-running business in Hong Kong for himself. Our loose cannon is a cop named Tequila, played with inimitable cool by Chow Yun-Fat, introduced in the opening scene in a raid on the up-and-coming gun-running gang. The raid goes horribly wrong and turns into a civilian massacre in which his long-time partner is killed. Before this 10 ½ minute scene is over, the body count in the film (which is probably impossible to accurately keep) already exceeds that of most full-length action features. Our cunning assassin is Tony, played by Tony Leung, introduced in the next scene in a flawlessly and soundlessly executed hit in a library that Tequila is then assigned to as part of his work with the gun-running case. And we’re off!

            Hard Boiled works with many of the clichés of macho action-thrillers you’ve seen before, but there’s no film I’ve ever seen that pushes everything to the extreme – and even beyond to the point of almost comic absurdity – the way this one does. Sure, you have your codes of honor binding both cops and criminals (except for the really bad guys with no honor whatsoever), you have your jokey camaraderie (except when everyone suddenly gets deadly serious), your endless supply of bullets and no stops for reloading (except at crucial moments when someone’s empty chamber is needed for dramatic effect), and you’ve seen those before, but the combination of the constantly roving camera, the basic goodness and likeability of the heroes, the pure, non-stop kinetic energy of the film have no parallels I’ve ever seen – outside of John Woo’s catalog, anyway. Or perhaps since the release of this film and Woo’s other masterpiece The Killer (also starring Chow Yun-Fat in the title role) action movies have changed. The kind of crazy, stylized violence on display here has raised the bar for what can be done in action films, and just how intense they can be. And despite the intensity, there are still moments of humor throughout – though sometimes you’re chuckling because it’s a release of tension as much as actual humor. But you know there’s some tongue firmly in cheek when one gun-runner complains about another with “His low prices are killing my market, I’m losing out.” Or when Chow Yun-Fat, in a raid on an arms arsenal, shoots a motorcyclist speeding toward him with gun drawn, then leaps over that cyclist’s skidding bike to shoot yet another cyclist in midair (that bike explodes) then lands on his feet to dodge the flaming remains of the second motorcycle, it’s clear that Woo and company know when they’re skirting the edge of the ridiculous – that it’s simultaneously exciting and chuckle-worthy is one of the great accomplishments of the film. It’s also worth noting that the stunts throughout – especially the many shots done in close quarters with explosions or shattering glass – are hair-raising and I hope these stuntmen were paid extremely well.

The film comes charging out of the gate with scene after scene of action until it hits its middle. At this point it slows down just long enough to shift our perception of who are the good and bad guys and to set up the rest of the plot, then it shoots forward into its final set piece – an assault on an inner city hospital that lasts about 45 minutes. It’s the culmination of everything the film – and additionally John Woo – has been working toward to this point and it’s a remarkably sustained bit of tension, humorous bits notwithstanding. Especially notable is a virtuoso continuous shot that must have been a nightmare to choreograph – a 2 minute and 40 second sequence that travels with our heroes from floor to floor while they work out dialogue, have a sustained shootout with the bad guys, and move around the hospital chasing one of the toughest and most violent members of the gang. Everything that’s been set up to this point from the opening shootout and the iconic imagery throughout is merely leading up to this closing sequence and it’s worth every second. The whole film is a thrilling, exhausting, extremely violent ride, but it’s also one of the best and most exciting action films you’ll ever see.

- Patrick Brown

Fables of the Reconstruction: Hawkwind

In 1977, NASA launched a pair of LPs made of copper and gold into space. Both were attached to the Voyager I and II, a couple of spacecraft that examined Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus and are now drifting past the outer reaches of our solar system, and they’ll continue doing so, presumably forever. The records are for whoever or whatever finds them. They contain images from earth encoded into their grooves and about 90 minutes of music that was chosen to give a sense of what humankind is like. There are Western masterpieces by Mozart, Bach and Beethoven, of course, and prime examples of music from the Far East, Middle East and Africa, and Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode”. As wonderful as this gesture was, I can’t help but believe that they made a grave error by not including any Hawkwind. I think that of all the music from our little blue ball in space, Hawkwind’s would best speak to the souls of extra terrestrials, because they were the lords of Space Rock.

            Other fans might argue with me, but the Hawkwind record I’d choose for inclusion on the interstellar comp would be In Search of Space. It’s their second album, released in 1971, and the first where they fully embraced the sci-fi aesthetic. When the aliens figure out how to play the golden record with the diamond stylus that comes with it, they’ll hear familiar cosmic sounds: the light ticking of radar signals, blobular pulsations like those from a vast cloud of cosmic dust, the built up pressure of pent-up nuclear energy, a metronomic countdown and then, blast off! Their ears will be rocketing though space like intergalactic bandits on a star-faring hot rod. In earthly terms, the opening track, a 15+ minute epic called “You Shouldn’t Do That,” has an early heavy metal/proto-punk feel -- a couple of chords played fast and hard, but all throughout are strange oscillations and vibrations of space tones, like the sound effects from movies where little green men shoot laser beams and photon waves. And all these sounds weave and meld together into a singular force of forward momentum that’ll likely please the ears and minds of whatever ultra-intelligent beings happen to find them.

            I’d caution against including Hawkwind’s third album, though. Upon listening to the 1972 release Doremi Faso Latido, they might think we mean them harm. The punk and heavy metal elements are more pronounced here, so it’s much darker, more sinister (though the flying saucer sounds remain). To my ears, it’s like the soundtrack of an interstellar warlord civilization on a mission to conquer the universe. The vocals remind me a bit of Ozzy—high-pitched but flat, and shouted. The heavy guitar riffs pulsate and drone like a lot of metal and hardcore, but there’s enough variance across both sides of the album—a bit of acoustic guitar and saxophone and some shifts in syncopation—to keep it from feeling monotonous and redundant. In fact, there’s so much going on in the music, between the pulse and drive of the songs and the weird noises that float around it, that it starts to form aural moirés that are so intense they set your head to spinning. Fun for a wild night on earth, to be sure, but probably not appropriate as a greeting to fellow space beings.

            I definitely do not recommend sending Hawkwind’s first self-titled record, though in some respects it’s my favorite. I vote against it only because it reveals the band in their pre-space days, when they were more of an acid rock group. Pondering the heavens, to be sure, but still lacking the wherewithal to fully escape the earth. The opening track, “Hurry On Sundown,” has a bluesy/folksy feel. It begins with a bright riff strummed on an acoustic guitar, then a blaring harmonica kicks in and dances along with the melodic vocals. On the second track, they venture a fair distance into space, but it’s a feedback-based approximation of space that’s still rooted in earthliness. There’s less artifice; you can picture ragamuffin stoners making the music in some groovy pad somewhere, tripping out. The shape of some of the songs is less streamlined and symmetrical than on their later records, too. The third track, “Be Yourself,” for instance, has an odd three-beat form that’s kind of arty in a punk-rock sort of way, the punkiness due mainly to shouted lyrics. Side two has a similar form, only in reverse, going from off-centered, dark melody and rhythm, through several interludes of guitar-and-amp cosmos (with a touch of crazy saxophone from the gates of hell thrown in), and it ends with another down-to-earth tune, “Mirror of Illusion,” which verges on pop, in a hippy sort of way. It’s a great album, but probably not the best hello for whoever might be out there, millions of light years away. Better to wait to play the space creatures Hawkwind’s first record when they finally arrive at our home planet, where we can have them over for supper and wine and maybe even some of our precious herbs for a long night gathered around a real turntable.

I'd Love to Turn You On #65 - Hüsker Dü - Zen Arcade

Now is a good time to talk about Hüsker Dü. Well, I think any time is a good time but they seem especially relevant these days, maybe even more than when they were actually making music.  Bob Mould has just released a new solo album that's the best work he's produced in nearly two decades.  This follows up his autobiography of last year.  The influence of the band on rock music in the years since their demise seems to grow all the time.  So why not take a look at what is arguably their masterpiece, 1984's epic, double album, the semi-conceptual Zen Arcade.

The idea of a hardcore punk band doing a double album, much less a concept album, was somewhat revolutionary back in those days, yet it was also inevitable.  Punk and hardcore in their purest forms are both fairly simplistic musical styles.  In order to stay relevant, artists must push the limits of the genre.  The Clash realized this five years previous when they shook up the world with London Calling.  Now it was time for the next wave of punks to make the leap.  It made sense that it would come from one of the bands on SST Records, the label founded by Greg Ginn of Black Flag.  The artists on SST, such as Meat Puppets, The Minutemen, even Black Flag themselves, never tied themselves to punk rock orthodoxy and were always open to experimentation.  Hüsker Dü took the lead, for a time anyway, with Zen Arcade.  It claims to be a "rock opera" in the mold of Quadrophenia or The Wall, telling an angst-filled personal story.  The "plot" is not easily deciphered, something about a computer hacker whose girlfriend OD's, but the amazing collection of songs takes listeners on a journey through their sheer power and creativity.

The main strength of Hüsker Dü is that they had two outstanding songwriters in Bob Mould and Grant Hart.  In fact, I believe it's the rivalry between the two that pushed them to such great songwriting heights.  Each was always trying to outdo the other and both produced outstanding work as a result.  The album kicks off with two Mould classics, "Something I Learned Today" and "Broken Home, Broken Heart" followed by the first real change-up, Hart's acoustic "Never Talking to You Again."  This awesome 1-2-3 punch establishes the tone right off the bat.  The harder rocking numbers stand with the best hardcore of the era, but there's a lot more going on.  Hart's psychedelic "Hare Krishna" closes what was side 1 back in the vinyl days and establishes the band's penchant for being both trippy and noisy at the same time.  Side 2 opens with a blast of four Mould short/fast/loud numbers, then Hart's sing-a-long anthem "What's Going On."  Album 1 concludes with the haunting "Standing By The Sea," a song anchored by the repetitive bass line of Greg Norton.  Norton is often the forgotten member of the band but his musical contributions are just as essential as Mould and Hart's.

Album 2 is a mix of interesting instrumental interludes and classic anthems from both Mould and Hart.  Hart delivers "Pink Turns to Blue" and "Turn on the News" while Mould counters with "Newest Industry" and "Whatever."  For a band to come up with just one of these amazing tunes is achievement enough.  But all four, on top of all the great songs that came before, is truly a remarkable accomplishment.  The whole thing concludes with the 14 magical minutes of "Reoccurring Dreams," an instrumental number built on a fairly simple riff, jammed out with intense power.  It’s the perfect conclusion to an epic album.  Zen Arcade was a very important album to me in my youth and still resonates with me today.  More important than the lyrics or concept, it’s the variety and creativity of the music that inspires.  It seems various music scenes, already fragmented back in 1984, become moreso every year.  Zen Arcade is a reminder to always look beyond labels and genres.  When you do, whole new worlds of sound and experience await you.

- Adam Reshotko

Review of the New Bob Dylan Album "Tempest"

I got an advance of Tempest and here are my immediate thoughts after one listen

There’s no doubt it is modern Bob Dylan. The music hearkens back to some indeterminate point in American history. Part blues, part folk, part jazz, part some hybrid feeding trough of all roots music filtered through the sensibilities of someone who was there for all of it, every moment of the last 50 years Bob both reveled in and created. He has never been a nostalgia act, he has been his own act; making his own music that encompasses everything that came before and predicts all that is to come. Tempest will not divide fans. I believe if you are a believer in Dylan, all of it - the old, the middle the new - you are going to FLIP FUCKING OUT over this album. It has everything you want and a level of lyrical density that has been gone for a long time. If, on the other hand, you find the modern Dylan to be an impenetrable frog’s croak compared to Blonde On Blonde look elsewhere. You will find this to be the same. It is worth noting that his voice is actually less rough than it has been in recent years, and the musical accompaniment (his touring band with the addition of Los Lobos’ David Hidalgo) is as lightly sweet as Love & Theft but it does not sound like a man in his 20’s.

That aside, I am swooning after only one listen. Dylan’s lyrics are as intense as evocative as they have ever been. They are poetic, historic, intelligent and informative. It is Bob at his best. The album is beautifully produced by Dylan himself and shows a man so comfortable with his own musical skin that “fashion” isn’t even a consideration.  I can’t wait to listen to this album obsessively for the next few months to unlock all its mysteries, but here a few immediate impressions.

1) “Duquesne Whistle” - upbeat tune. Impossible to think of it now except in terms of the amazing, weird video that accompanies it - watch it HERE. Nostalgia and dread mix nicely to form something like…Dylan’s version of normal. Would have fit nicely on Love & Theft. A very pleasing musical arrangement hides a viper’s eye.

2) “Soon After Midnight” - slow, lots of pedal steel. A lonesome cry for companionship.

3) “Narrow Way” - repetitive, guitar driven tale of weary resignation and retribution with the ominous chorus. “If I can’t work up to you, you’ll surely have to work down to me someday.”

4) “Long and Wasted Time” - an embittered cry for lost love, and lost everything else. So many great couplets: “I wear dark glasses to cover my eyes, there’s secrets in ‘em I can’t disguise.” An amazing vocal performance.

5) “Pay In Blood” - “I pay in Blood, But not my own.” Wouldn’t have been out of place on Infidels musically. But a deep set of ominous lyrics.

6) “Scarlet Town” - Lyrically, this one is so deep, I can’t even begin until I’ve heard it more. Clearly he is under the influence of another poet here. A vision of the natural world gone mad under the influence of a corrupting mankind? I don’t know - this is one heavy song.

7) “Early Roman Kings” - a groovy, stone blues. One of his best modern lyrics. There is so much going on here, I can’t begin to pick my favorite of the amazing lines that crash the modern condition head on with the ancients.

8) “Tin Angel” - A tale of corruption and betrayal. John Ford meets John Dos Passos.

9) “Tempest” - it sounds like a Stephen Foster epic, but it is pure Bob Dylan. History unravels and spills over the floor like so much unspooled film as Leonardo Dicaprio rubs elbows with the real participants in this tragedy that seems to never lose its appeal. Yes, Bob examines the sinking of The Titanic in 14 minutes of hypnotic storytelling. Getting lost in the dream-like lyrics and lovely musicianship it might be easy to miss the fact that Dylan’s voice is more compelling on this song than it has been in years. As fascinating as the actual story and twice as revelatory. James Cameron eat your heart out. Dylan tells the story with such comparative brevity and absolute poetic superiority, it seems like HE should get the Oscar.

10) “Roll On John” - A tribute to John Lennon. Bob is openly broken-hearted about the senseless loss of one of the few people on earth who could have really understood what it was like to be Bob Dylan.

- Paul Epstein

I'd Love to Turn You On At the Movies #47 - Joe Cocker - Mad Dogs & Englishmen (1971, dir. Pierre Adidge)

Normally we don’t review rock docs in this column. However Mad Dogs & Englishmen feels like cinema to me. It watches more like a movie than a documentary. There are good guys and bad guys, a beginning, middle and end. The story has a heroic arc that finds our protagonist, Sheffield born R&B singer Joe Cocker, embarking on a long and dangerous journey across country with a band of friends and strangers to find the origin of his musical soul. Sounds dramatic right? Well it really is. This was probably the 4^th or 5^th time I’d watched Mad Dogs & Englishmen and I’d always found it very compelling, but I didn’t quite “get it” if you know what I mean. This time I got it. Fully! The reason it doesn’t feel like a bunch of concert footage is because it isn’t. It is a fully realized movie about a huge undertaking involving over 40 musicians and fellow travelers careening around North America creating something unique and special every single night. Along the way, we get a primer on the highs and lows of the music business circa 1970.

For the most part Joe Cocker comes off a genuinely talented, nice, inarticulate guy who is just kind of going with the flow. He has a tour of America booked after his triumphant performance at Woodstock with The Grease Band. Unfortunately, shortly thereafter The Grease Band went their separate ways and Cocker was left with his name on the dotted line and a North American Tour to mount. He called his friend, Leon Russell and within a day or two Leon had assembled a huge band that included the cream of the L.A./Oklahoma axis of musicians. Names like Rita Coolidge, Jim Keltner, Bobby Keys, Don Preston, Carl Radle and at the center of it all Leon and Joe battling for supremacy. For at the center of this movie is the subtle, dark, controlling, svengali-like personality of Leon Russell. Russell is the obvious musical director of this huge and supremely talented assemblage, as well as the social director and spiritual center of the whole affair. His image and musical fingerprints are everywhere. As stated Joe seems somewhat inarticulate which is never better illustrated than the scenes where he is taken around to radio stations to promote himself. Most painful is a stilted meeting with Bay Area legend Big Daddy Tom Donahue who comes across as overbearing and out of touch as Cocker does timid and hung-over. It becomes clear almost immediately that Cocker himself is like a wind blown leaf in hurricane gale wind, burned out from a couple of intense years of touring and a rocket ship to fame, he is hollow-eyed and lost. Until he gets on stage that is. After all, the reputation of this movie rests on the electrifying performances. And they are. Cocker becomes possessed by the music and delivers a series of electrifying performances. The band is unbelievably funky and tight, yet the arrangements of the familiar material are open-ended and loose allowing for breathtaking improvised ensemble moments. That looseness and amazing arranging can be laid at Leon’s feet. His musical contribution is as important as his emotional impact on the proceedings.

As the tour winds from coast to coast all the excess of the late 60’s is on full display; you got your sex (groupies everywhere including a weirdly dated encounter with “the butter queen,)” drugs (everything, all the time, non-stop) and of course Joe’s form of soul revue Rock and Roll. Interestingly, with over 40 years hindsight we can almost see the misguided idealism of the Woodstock experience unwind before our eyes. As the tour builds momentum the performances get better and better, the party gets longer and stranger and the entire proceeding looks to be heading for some kind of psychic cliff. Then...there is a moment of calm as the touring party lands in Oklahoma on someone’s farm for a down home picnic. All the schizophrenic impulses of the 1960’s are in full effect; the pastoral vs. the city, the family unit vs. rugged individualism, the traditional vs. the avant garde. It is all there as a large bunch of hippie musicians slowly unwind into the sunny grass fields of the American heartland. You can see the yearning for it to last forever, cut with the reality that this fragile ecosystem had to eventually crumble. Before it does though, it produces one hell of a great musical ride.

 
- Paul Epstein

I'd Love to Turn You On #64 - Rahsaan Roland Kirk – The Inflated Tear

Rahsaan Roland Kirk was many things, but let’s clear one thing up first – he was a genius. There are those who would tell you that because he sought to entertain as well as enlighten that his art is somehow lesser than the intensely serious music of a John Coltrane, a Miles Davis, a Cecil Taylor. But really, he’s in a line with Duke Ellington, with Charles Mingus, with Louis Armstrong – not exactly bad company to keep. He was also a remarkable jazz saxophonist (and player of other reeds as well), on a level with any of the greats you’d care to name, often using two or three (or more) horns simultaneously to create his own horn section. You can hear that right off the bat here with “The Black and Crazy Blues,” or most spectacularly on the title cut, where he contributes a gorgeous, tender solo interspersed with a gripping, multi-horn fanfare. And if you want to check out one of his tricks of technique that allowed him a unique approach to his soloing, listen to the extended improvisational line he lays down on “Many Blessings.” He just doesn’t stop to take a breath, because he uses a technique of circular breathing to draw in and exhale air at the same time. It’s not the first time he does it here, but it stands out here because the song is a more straightforward blowing tune. He’s also a traditionalist. You can hear that here most readily in his elegant reading of Duke Ellington’s “The Creole Love Song” and in the relatively restrained quartet music that makes up the bulk of this album, which ranges from light and lovely to the emotional intensity of “The Inflated Tear” itself.

But Rahsaan was also an avant-gardist in the sense that he was always pushing boundaries to find new ways to express himself; a surrealist joker always tweaking the noses of those who thought he could or should do things one specific way; a vaudevillian who knew how to elicit cheers of delight from audiences while still staying musically interesting. And that’s where the second album here comes in. Atlantic Records, Kirk’s musical home for many years, encouraged his experimental bent – the producer of The Inflated Tear even reports being a little disappointed when Kirk turned in the first album that didn’t showcase his wilder, woollier side. But after a string of great (and mostly out of print) releases for the label, Kirk fulfilled the experimental side of his destiny with Natural Black Inventions: Root Strata. At first these two albums – one of his nicest, cleanest, and best and one of his weirdest – seem to be strange bedfellows, but after a few listens, even the oddness of the later album just seems like Kirk’s quirks applied to a great set of songs, and the underlying eccentricities of his personality shine through on the seemingly “normal” earlier album. And what’s so weird about the second album? Well, excepting some mostly percussive support from a couple friends, Kirk plays every single instrument – and he’s credited with 18 plus “bird sounds” (including the “black mystery pipes” which he describes as “a piece of bamboo and a yard long metal tube – two pipes are played simultaneously.”) – by himself, live in the studio, without overdubs. It must have been the most amazing one-man-band show ever seen, and the fact that he actually made a terrific, albeit odd, album out of it just goes back again to show the level at which his genius operated. Mostly he’s recording his own tunes, again working the serious, the funny, the surreal, and the sentimental right alongside each other, and again he uses Duke Ellington as a touchstone, employing another non-percussive instrument (a piano) for the only time on the record, and creating a gorgeous duet that contextualizes the rest of Kirk’s songs on the album within a larger continuum of jazz and other black music and culture, one in which he’s not the sideshow figure he’s sometimes made out to be, but one of the true giants of the music.

The Inflated Tear is certainly the place to start with Kirk – it’s one of his best recorded, best conceived and loveliest album, but time has shown that even if Natural Black Inventions: Root Strata sold poorly in its first run, Rahsaan Roland Kirk was absolutely right in his conception, and created a really brilliant work there, even if it leaves some listeners in the dust. They’ll catch up one day.

- Patrick Brown

Fables of the Reconstruction: Gunn-Truscinski Duo

Steve Gunn is the best guitarist that no one has heard of. He’s not a blazing-guitar-solo great guitarist, though he’s such a master of the six-string that I suspect he could be if he wanted to. His music is mellower, richer. Much of it he performs on acoustic guitar. If I were to pin his style down, I’d say he plays in the tradition pioneered by John Fahey: highly skilled explorations of deceptively simple melody, rhythm and chord themes that reside somewhere between jazz, classical and blues, with a whole world of international sonic spirituality mixed in. When he does plug into an amp it’s not to blast out power chords and screeching licks, but to add a layer of electric resonance to his intricate tapestries of sound, vibrations along the lines of those conjured in a good raga. Gunn started out in a virtually unknown Brooklyn drone trio called GHQ, and in 2007 he began releasing music of his own, on CDRs at first and then on vinyl with a tiny label based in North Carolina called Three Lobed Recordings. These records are rare from the get go: Gunn’s 2009 LP debut, Boerum Palace, had a print run of just 823. Which might explain his relative obscurity. He’s clearly not trying to be famous.

In 2010 Gunn teamed up with drummer John Truscinski to form the Gunn-Truscinski Duo, and they’ve released two records, Sand City and Ocean Parkway, both with Three Lobed, both on limited edition vinyl—624 and 777 copies respectively. The musical relationship between Gunn and Truscinski feels similar to the way Bill Evans and Paul Motian played together, two stellar musicians playing improvisational lead simultaneously within highly structured themes. The result is something that’s at once expansive and contained, tunes that feel simple enough to relax the mind at the end of a long, hard day, but full of complicated waves of notes dense enough to yield surprises across many, many listens. And it sounds so good on vinyl. It’s the kind of music that begs for the warmth and physical texture of an LP, partly because of its simplicity, but mostly because it’s music rich with handmade qualities and textures—the scrape of Gunn’s fingers across the strings, the woodenness of his guitar, the lo-fi hum of a small amp, the tautness of the snare drum, the uneven brassy sheen of cymbals. It’s like wood grain and unpolished stone. It’s something real in a world that seems to be fading into bits and gigabytes.

Frankly I can’t understand why Gunn and Truscinski are not superstars, at least among the millions of quality-music lovers who tune in to NPR’s All Songs Considered to be turned on to new aural art, because they’re just so good. In fact, Gunn has received some NPR attention with a fascinating interview from July of last year (in which he confessed to being a Dead Head). But the surreally small pressing of their latest release suggests that either the interview drew too few new fans or they don’t care and they want to keep things small. I’m not complaining. I like being one of the few people on earth who knows about such a good thing.

I'd Love to Turn You On At the Movies #46 – People Will Talk (1951, dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz)

Cary Grant was the coolest, most suave dude to ever walk across the silver screen. It’s like he wasn’t even human, he was so perfect in posture, manner and good looks and good taste. Watching him act is like watching Michael Jordan on a basketball court or Jimi Hendrix with an electric guitar; he was one of those one-in-a-billion-billion people who was such a genius at what he did that he transcended even our notions of what is best, seemingly without effort. You really can’t go wrong with a Carey Grant film, and quite a few of them are essential viewing for any self-respecting cinephile – North By Northwest, An Affair to Remember, The Philadelphia Story, to name a few. I’m not sure if I’d add the 1951 comedy People Will Talk to this short list, because it’s not important in the way that those films are. But I’d still recommend highly, especially for people who like old movies for the way they offer a glimpse into the values and beliefs of bygone times, and for those who appreciate plotlines that are unwittingly, but undeniably, weird.

            Grant plays a young doctor named Noah Praetorius whose methods of medicine and style of teaching are unconventional but highly effective. He’s adored by his students and hailed as a hero in the larger community. But his success has made him the target of a jealous colleague, Dr. Rodney Elwell (Hume Cronyn), who is everything Dr. Praetorius is not – short, balding, undistinguished. Elwell hires a detective to dig up dirt on Praetorius in hopes of ruining him. Meantime, a student named Deborah Higgins (Jeanne Crain) faints in Dr. Praetorius’s class, and he examines her and determines that she’s pregnant. She’s not married, though, and the father of the child has died. This was, of course, a huge problem in 1951, and sparks a delightful chain of events between doctor and patient, professor and student, toward the inevitable romantic conclusion. The two stories converge in what is one of the most peculiar climaxes I’ve ever seen in a movie, a story within a story that’s so odd it makes the film worth more than the cost of admission for its oddness alone.

            As time capsules go, People Will Talk is better than most because it shows a period of transition. The tension that drives the romance plotline is borne of the social mores and taboos of the time: the shame of a pregnancy out of wedlock. Yet Higgins and Dr. Praetorius are clearly the protagonists, despite Higgins’s supposed sin and the good Doctor’s aiding and abetting. So you can only conclude that the audience at the time – society as a whole – possessed a degree of acceptance for the whole situation. Otherwise the film’s producers wouldn’t have been able to pull it off, especially not in a romantic comedy, a genre that has natural limits on how far it can push viewers out of the confines of societal norms. So it’s weird because it’s OK that Higgins had sex and got pregnant, but, at the same time, it’s not OK, and the plot rides on the pressing need to suppress the facts at hand. Watching it in the 21^st Century, when the choices for women are, thankfully, far greater in number, you find yourself perplexed to the point of fascination as to why it’s an issue at all. But that makes the whole time-travel all the more interesting.

            As for the story within the story, I’ll say no more. I probably shouldn’t have even mentioned it at all, because part of the thrill is the way it comes so unexpectedly and feels so outrageously out of place. But here, too, we get a snapshot of a period of time. People Will Talk is based on a play by German playwright named Curt Goetz, who was a relative of George Bernard Shaw, with whom he was often compared. Both were stalwarts of modern theater, and one of the hallmarks of modernism in drama and literature was the move away from strict chronological flow in story telling. So this film is a stark example of this, made all the more stark by virtue of its being a movie, which we tend to expect to unfold sequentially. So it gives you a satisfying aesthetic jolt that you ordinarily get from the escapist delights of a funny Hollywood romance, and this lifts the movie higher up the list of Cary Grant’s must-sees.

            - Joe Miller

Interview with The Flobots

On August 28^th the Flobots’ third full-length album, Circle in the Square is going to drop. They've agreed to a live performance for the Twist and Shout family on that very same day.

Are you ready?

The Flobots have always written socially conscious songs and have never been shy about stating what they wanted to see in the world. From The Flobots Present: Platypus to Fighting with Tools to Survival Game, every album has been a primal scream for a world they want to see come to fruition. Circle in the Square is another rally cry, reminding people that they are not alone. The whole world is filled with folks just like them, people who feel the need to rise up and take control of their own destinies. This has been a busy time for these Denver natives. Between recording the new album, gearing up for the tour, putting together a media center for urban youth and the general day to day tasks they have as super-heroes it's amazing that their founder/MC Jonny 5 had time to generously do this interview with me...but he did.

What can we expect from this new album?

Jonny 5: We're super proud of these songs. They're very personal but also very much inspired by the global democratic awakening. My hope this album helps blur the line between "political" and "non-political" music by going deeper to the emotions behind transformation, whether it is social or internal. So, expect celebration, sadness, determination, and joy. And rhymes.

What was the creative process?

5: All the songs are written collectively, and every song comes from a different place. We've tried for years to figure out what our process is, and found that there isn't one. Each song is its own story...

The Flobots are touring straight through until the beginning of November and hitting most of the larger cities in the rustbelt, Lansing Mi. included. As politically active as the band is are there any plans to visit any of the Occupations while you’re on the road?

5: Hey, that's a good idea.

Every time I turned around this summer at the Occupy movement I saw Jonny 5 running around. What part did/do you play in that movement? 

5: Occupy Wall Street started on September 17th. We went into the studio on September 18th. I was very limited in terms of time and not able to be physically present very much at Occupy Denver. I tried to be there at key points, performing once, rallying people at certain flashpoints, and playing whatever role seemed constructive and possible. But I was mostly just a part of the outer circle of inspired supporters. My inner activist was going crazy because it felt like I should have been there, but ultimately I recognized that it was important to stay on my path. Occupy spoke for so many people who WEREN'T there physically. I had to accept my role as one of those people being spoken for.

Has the band released any of their music under creative commons for use in informational videos or progressive actions?

5: We haven't. But we've tried to be very supportive and helpful with groups who want to use our music in ways that are in line with our values. I think the end result has been good.

The web comic at Flobots.net followed the theme that people everywhere are starting to wake up. Each chapter has been about an individual or couple of individuals going through an awakening of sorts. Do you feel, generally speaking, that the Occupation is a fully realized emulation of that?

5: I wouldn't say "fully", because there's always so much room for growth in all of us. Folks involved with Occupy are most certainly included in that. But it was an amazing step for people as individuals and for us as a country to recognize our power to create a more just and humane world.

Will that comic continue now that the there is protesting in most major cities and people are becoming less tranquil?

5: I'll have to talk to the comic's creator, DJ Coffman. He's a busy and talented guy. People should check out his work!

You must be really excited about the Youth Media Center, opening in 2013. Would you tell me a bit about that?

5: Sure. Flobots.org, a non-profit founded by myself and other band members, is working with the Denver Housing Authority to create a 5400 square foot Youth Media Studio on the ground floor of one of the new buildings in the La Alma Lincoln Park neighborhood. The whole redevelopment is receiving attention for its commitment to sustainability and its respect for current residents, and we're excited to be a part of that project. Our next task is to raise money to build the actual studio. So, if you're a philanthropist and you're reading this and you want to have a building named after you, please let us know!

Who will be teaching and what kind of structure will it have?

5: One of the things I am so proud of about Flobots.org is that our staff and facilitators includes and have included powerful Denver artists like Molina Speaks, Suzy Q, Melissa Ivey, Chris Guillot, Serafin Sanchez, Nate Schmidt, Kalyn Heffernan (of Wheelchair Sportscamp), Bianca Mikahn, and many others. They'll be teaching and running the programs.  It's an amazing crew of folks. As a staff and board we're working right now to determine what exactly the structures will be.

Kalyn Heffernan of Wheelchair Sportscamp has been hosting “Pop-Up” Brunches to help bring in contributions for the Center. What other ways may people in the community donate or contribute?

5: Like any non-profit, Flobots.org depends on the generosity of folks in the community who believe in our vision, so donations are always welcomed and needed! We try to make it fun, like the pop-up brunches (Props to Kalyn!!), which you should come check out to if this goes to print before Aug. 18th. Also, like I said, if you want a studio named after you, talk to us. And later this fall, we'll be having our bowling ball fundraiser. We also need volunteers for a lot of events here and there, so if you have time to volunteer, hit up our Executive Director Jami Duffy at Jami@flobots.org (Please notice that she is not me - a lot of people get confused). 

What can we expect in the future from the Flobots?

5: More of everything!


- Natja Soave

I'd Love to Turn You On #63 - Dr. Octagon - Dr. Octagonecologyst

I'll admit – I didn't listen to much hip-hop growing up. Sure, NWA, Public Enemy and A Tribe Called Quest were important to my young ears, but once I hit middle school and discovered rock 'n' roll my tastes changed. That is until I heard Dr. Octagonecologyst. Suddenly I'd stumbled upon the alternative to all the thug rap that my friends were listening to. This was weird. It wasn't obsessed with bling, bitches and killing people who questioned your authority (though it touched on these subjects in its own warped way). And, most importantly, it had a sense of humor. With Dr. Octagonecologyst, Dr. Octagon, aka Kool Keith, revealed himself as a David Lynch of rap; relishing in absurdity without losing sight of a single, brilliant image.

            In 1996, seemingly out of nowhere, Dr. Octagon was born - half shark-alligator, half man. He created a hospital that specialized in otherworldly surgeries ("we specialize in any kind of rectal rebuilding, relocated saliva glands, and of course, moose bumps") and warped sex therapy ("girl let me touch you there, I wanna feel you.") He was from another planet (Jupiter) before Outkast put out ATLiens. The beats (by then unknown Dan the Automator) - part sci-fi, part horror movie - and DJ Q-Bert's deft scratching abilities perfectly matched Kool Keith's beyond-left-field lyrics.

            There are stand out tracks (e.g. "3000" and "Blue Flowers") on Dr. Octagonecologyst, but this is a true long player. Furthermore, unlike most rap albums where the interludes grow stale after one listen, on Dr. Octagonecologyst they complete the image. With samples from obscure porno films and hilarious ER-like sketches that introduce tools like "scissors, hammer, flame" and proclaim "ok, getting ready to stab - jam it in!" the overall insanity of it is endlessly listenable.

            In short, Dr. Octagonecologyst introduced an oddly compelling alternative to mainstream rap. And, even though the album didn't have a serious message, its willingness to push limits paved the way for other non-traditional rap groups to do their thing (Outkast, Gorillaz, etc.). Most importantly, it showcased a young team of future hip-hop pioneers getting everything right. Dr. Octagonecologyst is a classic and will sound fresh for decades to come.

- Paul Custer

Fables of the Reconstruction: Holy Modal Rounders

It’s a mystery why the Holy Modal Rounders haven’t gotten as much revisionist historical fanfare as the Velvet Underground and the Mothers of Invention. The two albums they released in 1967 and 1968, Indian War Whoop and The Moray Eels Eat the Holy Modal Rounders, were paradigm-shifting masterpieces, every bit as radical as the Velvets’ banana-sticker-cover self-titled debut and Freak Out! and Absolutely Free by Zappa and the Mothers. In some ways, the Holy Modal Rounders’ records are even more avant-garde because all the weirdness is poured into traditional forms that at that point in time hadn’t had much affiliation with pop, stuff like folk and hillbilly music and ragtime and Tin Pan Alley and punk, long before punk even existed. And in so doing, they offer a stunning view of the infinite possibilities of rock and pop that would be explored in the coming years by young musicians all around the world.

            That’s not to say these records inspired legions of sonic experimenters. Most likely, they didn’t. I’d never heard of the Holy Modal Rounders before this year, when my uncle loaned me a record they did in the mid-seventies with Michael Hurley, and in the time since I became acquainted with them I’ve discovered that most of my music savvy friends hadn’t heard of them either. That’s probably because these records are weird beyond weird; so weird that they verge on sloppy, kind of like the music I used to make with my buddies in high school when we’d get really stoned, turn on a tape recorder and strum warbling chords on an acoustic guitar and bang on pots and pans and make spooky sounds with our mouths. The difference here is that the Holy Modal Rounders are skilled musicians, and at the heart of all the psychedelic spontaneity is some solid playing. The fiddle work in particular is top notch. And it’s all stirred together with heavy doses of studio effects—echo, delay, reverb—that give the records a dreamlike quality. Listening to these records is like floating through the greatest flea market on earth, a place jam packed with Americana ephemera that drifts in and out of focus through a hallucinatory haze. You’ll be floating along, grooving on an echoing organ line that sounds equal parts Star Trek soundtrack and funeral parlor dirge, when suddenly the muffled drums quicken and a strand of fiddle cuts in and you’re tapping your foot to a down home barnburner. After a minute or so of that, it might slide into a ragtime ditty, similar in melody to Country Joe and the Fish’s “Fixin’ to Die Rag,” except it sounds like it’s being sung by cartoon rednecks with super-secret intellectual alter egos.

            In other words, these records are just as wild and crazy as can be, and they were wild and crazy at a time when few musicians knew it was even possible to be so strange. If I had first heard them without knowing what they were, I would’ve thought they’d come out earlier this year, and that they were cutting-edge, DIY, underground freak folk, not music that’s older than I am. I’d say they were wildly influential if I had a notion that a lot of later artists had heard them and followed suit, but the annals of rock history are too quiet about the Holy Modal Rounders for me to believe that their influence was direct.

Several Species Of Small Furry Thoughts: Whatta Week!

This was one for the books. Midday Monday my good friends who own two of the best independent record stores in the country (Fingerprints in Long Beach and Park Ave. CDs in Orlando) hit town for a week of relaxation and a couple of shows at Red Rocks. Little did we know it would turn into one of the most memorable music weeks ever! First up was Neil Young and Crazy Horse’s triumphant return to Red Rocks. After Neil’s health scare a few years ago, and his use of bands other than Crazy Horse, it seemed like he might never fully rock again. All worries were set aside the minute he walked on stage and blasted into “Love and Only Love” from his sonic assault of an album Ragged Glory and then blasted right into “Powderfinger.” It was obvious Neil and The Horse were firing on all cylinders, as the volume was high and the guitar solos fierce. Through the night Neil played at least six brand new songs. He has stopped using the flowery prose of the poet and exchanged it for the carefully worded language of the journalist. He has just finished work on his autobiography and each song felt like a chapter, describing parts of his life. The details were touching as he recounted “walking like a giant” as a young man in the 60’s and now, “floating like a leaf on a stream.” It was a different style of writing for Neil, but it felt completely appropriate and fitting for a man his age. The two plus hour show traversed a lot of territory, but it was all fully satisfying. I don’t think anyone went away unhappy as the band galloped through new and old material with a renewed energy and purpose. One of the other record store owners I was with had a connection and after the show we got to go on the tour bus and talk to Neil and his long-time manager Elliot Roberts. Neil is psyched up about sound innovation and is deeply involved in some real cutting edge technological advances that might just change the way we hear music. He was animated and funny and brilliant and pretty much everything you hope for when meeting your heroes. He also looked great; he was thin and clear-eyed and just full of creative energy. We walked off the bus about a half-hour later floating on air.

 Click Here for “Walk Like A Giant” & “Born In Ontario” show footage

Next we had a day off from concerts, but I did bring my friends to our Chris Daniels in-store on Tuesday night. Again, this was another moving and profoundly musically satisfying experience as local legend Chris Daniels brought it all home with a beautiful 35-minute performance of songs from his new “album of a lifetime” Better Days. Chris has gone through a brutal battle with Leukemia over the past couple of years and has thankfully come through it and delivered his most emotionally satisfying set of songs ever. He opened with the funny and timely “Medical Marijuana,” but quickly got down to business offering stunning versions of some of the heaviest material on the album. His band, which consisted of some truly great veterans of the Denver music scene (Randy Amen: drums and vocal, Kevin Legge: bass, Chris Daniels: guitar and vocal, Clay Kirkland: harp (harmonica), Sean McGowen: guitar, Andrea McGowen: vocal) just tore it up, and reminded us that Chris is not only a fabulous musician, singer, songwriter, but he is also one of the most accomplished band leaders the state has ever known. Several of the younger, hipper employees at Twist and Shout singled this in-store out as their favorite ever because of both the superb level of musicianship and the resonant nature of his songs as well. We felt emotionally drained and buoyed at the same time, which is what great art is supposed to do to you. We are all lucky to have Chris Daniels in our midst.

Wednesday comes and it is Jack White fever at Twist and Shout. Rumors of a secret gig at Twist are rampant even though we haven’t heard anything about it. I bring my friends by the store, and we were all surprised at the sight of a line of White Stripes fans outside just in case it happens. The store is hopping with people checking it all out and it feels like a holiday. It seems like it probably isn’t going to happen so we decide to check out the new Clyfford Still museum. This is another great addition to Denver’s cultural quiver, and something for us all to be proud of. As we left the exhibit about two hours later I called the store and asked if there had been any Jack White sightings. An employee told me they had just heard that the show was going to take place at an auto-detailing store on west Colfax. He gave a brief description where, but no information about time. On a lark, we decided to head to that part of town and just see what we saw. As soon as we approached Colfax and Federal I could see a crowd and then I saw the Third Man Records traveling record store truck. Holy shit, this might actually happen! We quickly parked and as we were walking over to the crowd of about 300 people we heard a roar go up. We got there just as Jack White and his band launched into four incredibly high-energy songs…in a parking lot…on Colfax. It was one of the most thrilling, spontaneous, guerilla rock and roll moments I have ever experienced. You could tell the crowd was all pinching themselves in disbelief. It was truly surreal and an all-time high for this long-time White Stripes fan. 

We floated up to Red Rocks that night and witnessed a mighty Jack White show that covered all his bands and proved without a doubt that Jack White is one of the heirs apparent to the legacy of great rock stars. His show was brash and ballsy and hit all the right notes. He sang great, soloed beautifully on guitar and led his large all-female band through a tight and satisfying set. The whole experience with Mr. White showed what an incredible grasp of his own career he has. He stormed into Denver and made everyone’s life just a little bit more fun and interesting. This guy gets it!

As we crawled back to Denver that night my heart was swollen with pride for the amazing music town we - all us fans - have created. It is truly miraculous that we live in such a great place with such an awesome music scene. Here’s to US. 

- by Paul Epstein 

I'd Love to Turn You On At the Movies #45 - The Son (2002, dir. Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne)

If you’re new to the works of the Dardenne Brothers, Jean-Pierre and Luc, there may be a little explaining necessary before you dive into their films. It may be overstating things to say that they ushered in a new school of European cinema (and it may not be) but it’s not overstating things to say that over their last five films, they have won more major awards at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival than any filmmakers ever. Ever. Let that thought stew for a bit. In the mid-1970’s Jean-Pierre and Luc founded a production company and began to produce documentaries of their own and by other filmmakers, examining the social climate of modern Europe, the fallout of WWII, and other topics, often leaning toward looking at poverty and immigration with a strong social conscience. By the 1990’s, they had turned to narrative filmmaking, garnering great notice with 1996’s La Promesse, which paved the way for 1999’s Rosetta, which walked home with the Palme D’Or from Cannes – the first Belgian film ever to do so – for its portrayal of a young woman who works to try to escape the desperate poverty in which she and her alcoholic mother live (both films are slated for release by the Criterion Collection on 8/14).

And it is under the shadow of their success with Rosetta that the Dardennes, feeling great pressure to make a worthy follow-up, created The Son (Le Fils). Given their training in documentary filmmaking, they use many documentary techniques – no sound effects beyond on-site sound, frequent use of existing lighting and locations, no score to emotionally underpin scenes – to create their story. Coupled with their frequent use of medium close-ups of their actors and their penchant for long takes (they say in a commentary that the film consists of about 80 takes – by contrast, the famous 3-minute shower scene in Psycho has 50), the style lends a directness and realism to the picture that is at times uncomfortable. The actors play down their roles and behave like real people instead of movie characters, and in the manner of the best Ingmar Bergman films, there are moments where we feel like we’re present in a tumultuous moment of someone else’s actual life when maybe we shouldn’t be there watching. The center of this film, and the winner of the Cannes Best Actor award for his performance here, is Olivier Gourmet, playing Olivier, a carpenter who teaches his trade at a vocational school for troubled youth (it’s no surprise to learn that the Dardennes conceived the film as a vehicle for Gourmet after working with him on their previous two features). When a new youth, Francis (played by Morgan Marinne), arrives at the school, Olivier at first refuses to accept him into his class, instead following the youth around the school and spying on him. Soon, he relents and accepts him into his class and this is where it’s time to stop talking about the plot.

Nothing much has happened to this point except that we’ve come to see the routine day-to-day behavior of both principles, including Olivier’s odd obsession, and before long, at about a half hour into the film, information is divulged to the audience that drastically changes our perception of the relationship between the two. And it’s the mastery of the Dardennes’ tightly held camera shots – kudos here due to cinematographer Alain Marcoen, who has worked with the brothers on every film from La Promesse forward and contributed greatly to their trademark visual style – their casual yet precise way of offering up plot details with a nonchalance that lets the audience have just enough information to carry us through, their methods of working with their cast to create the pitch-perfect performances (especially, though not limited to, Gourmet’s inscrutable performance of murky motives) that generates a nearly unbearable tension in the film. They play off and confound our expectations of what might happen, what we’ve seen in a dozen or a thousand other movies, and what we might do in the same situation that Olivier finds himself in. They don’t go out of their way to explain things unnecessarily – when Olivier is asked at one point in the film why he’s doing what he’s doing, he says “I don’t know.” And we’re left to put it together and take in what we see on-screen and our own reactions to it.

 

            The Dardennes have a gift for films about troubled young people that is at once sympathetic to the issues and choices facing them, but clear eyed about the fact that these are choices they make, not inevitabilities. What they also have that more cynical filmmakers lack is a sense of their films treading a line between disaster and hope – will whatever past history binds Olivier and Francis be overcome or will it consume them? More than the specific plot machinations, it’s that tension that makes the films go, and The Son, no less than their Palme D’or honored films Rosetta or The Child, makes the most of that tension.
- Patrick