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“Maybe I’ll make enough money to buy my privacy back”
Sort of like being trapped on a train car with the worlds most insufferable man. Pretty incredible document of one of the last moments in which there were guys playing guitar who women in faraway cities pawed at and cried over. The kind of “indie famous,” as Bradford Cox once described it, where you walk unmolested through your own countries metropolitan hubs, but are subjected to “I’ll die for you” levels of adoration once you enter Zurich or Bologna. Sorry but I don’t see mj lenderman eliciting this kind of feral sexual response from an audience. Alex G maybe, but he wouldn’t entertain it. Mac Demarco had some of this appeal in his time I guess. Idk it’s just kind of crazy to see a documentary about an indie rock star in early 2010s who freely uses the word faggot and ends every show by flinging a girl from the audience over his shoulder before disappearing into the dressing room. Pretty obvious why this has been burried. Unbelievably fun time.
Jan 28, 2024
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IMO this is one of the finest rock-docs ever made. Not sure how close to reality it really is (maybe more "film" than "documentary"), but filmmaker Ondi Timoner followed the bands in question (Portland's Dandy Warhols and SF's Brian Jonestown Massacre) for seven years, amassing something like 2500 hours of footage, to craft a narrative that basically portrays a love/hate relationship between the bands (at one point, BJM frontman Anton Newcombe sends each member of Dandy Warhols a bullet with his/her name on it). I had the advantage of knowing both bands on their own terms -- the Dandys' Courtney Taylor-Taylor is a longtime friend, and I've been a fan of BJM for years, as my reviews/interviews would show -- so I can pick around a bit between what seems real (the music itself, life on the road, dealing with labels and the biz) and what seems contrived (the friction between the bands, Anton's seemingly over-the-top persona). The Dandys are THE most fun hang of all time -- their rehearsal space-cum-party cabin/clubhouse, the Odditorium in Portland, took up a full city block and hosted absolute ragers over the years (including an amazing night with David Bowie and band). The film is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year and Timoner has added scenes and additional narration from BJM tambourine player (!!) Joel Gion to bring the movie up to date and balance out some of the overblown-ness of the original version. Compulsive viewing, dead ahead: "Choose your own adventure" with the cameras rolling.
Mar 12, 2024
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It’s a documentary on the rivalry between The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols and truly nothing cheers me up more than the pretentious hipster assholes in these bands
Aug 5, 2024
wild story of friends turned into rivals and the two vastly different directions a band can go under the influence of drugs and ego. the footage takes place over the course of a decade and is often pretty raw - overall an incredible doc
May 7, 2024
Top Recs from @matthewallan
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It was 4AM and I was in the home of two complete strangers, a French Canadian couple I’d met at a bar earlier that night. Initially I thought maybe they were angling for some sick sex experiment to spice up their marriage but it turns out they just wanted someone to do cocaine and talk Israel-Palestine with. I was only interested in one of those things though. I was about to go home but made one request before I left. I asked kindly if the man in capri pants, drinking a red stripe with his feet up and playing edm from a Bluetooth speaker connected to his phone would put on one song for me, Madonna’s “What It Feels Like for a Girl.” He shrugged and put it on and they went back to talking about how Israel was actually super fun or whatever and I quietly got up and started dancing. This must have surprised them because pretty soon they stopped talking and watched with horror forming on their faces. The song ended and I asked for a cigarette for the road. As far as I was concerned these people hadn’t done enough for me. Free cocaine and cigarettes were the least they could do considering the show I’d just put on for them. I don’t remember exactly how I got home, no train route from that neighborhood to mine that would make sense and no record of an Uber, but I made it home nonetheless and awoke the next day in my bed feeling pretty stupid about the whole ordeal. Nights like that make me sad, make me feel irresponsible and reckless, like I need to value my life more. I was feeling regretful and somber, I had a slight headache and if I wanted to I could cry on command, so I was in the ideal state to be seeing Mark Kozelek (red house painters, sun kil moon), one of my absolute heroes, that night at the Roxy.
Jan 15, 2024
Woke up next to someone this morning, went to my computer to put on some music and when I opened it up it was just this pic of Lars Von Trier and she looked aghast and said … “who is that?”
Jan 8, 2024
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My roommate is google searching images from Lars Von Trier’s “The House That Jack Built,” pointing emphatically at Matt Dillon as the titular character, a prolific serial killer, and shouting “this bitch is Jack-made!” I have at points in my life been “the crazy bitch whisperer”… I think I’m maybe just into the high risk, under the cover of darkness, we cant be found out, there’s something deeply wrong with all this VIBE… not always, this kind of thing usually runs parallel with other self-destructive behaviors and periods in which I am simply not doing too hot! Said roommate also shouted at me recently, “yo she’s James Spader-made as fuck!”
Jan 7, 2024