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The Messengers

Volcanic Tongue Writes Good Music

Writing about music must be hard. I know that I can barely type out 100+ characters before spinning off into 'I-give-up-land'. Properly capturing an artist's intent, message, and style in the relatively clumsy medium of the English language is something of an art in and of itself. The Poetry of the Review? The Aural Novella? Words Like Sounds? (Best Music Writing 2011)

Music fans are savvy and discerning folks - and they get damn near obsessive as the esoterica levels are pushed up. They can read bullshit as well as they can hear it. And there's so much music out there that a succinct and elegant review is critical to cracking through to an audience.  

Volcanic Tongue is an 'Underground Music & Mailorder Shop' which trafficks in all manner of musical wonderment - as long as it veers towards the unknown (if not unknowable). And their reviews are amazing. They are worth a read even if you never listen to the release to which the words refer.

Please allow me to demonstrate with this review of Jovontaes' Things Are Different Here:

Damaged, stripped back garage/kraut jams with a burning basement edge and the feel of cheap drugs, think Crawlspace w/a line-up of all fried skaters or Simply Saucer via Sunburned Hand Of The Man: "Jovantaes are Lexington, KY. They emerge from (and possibly define) my town's peculiar skate/Kraut/nihil/garage axis, evoking the smell of stale Miller High Life and burning couches: stumbling match-grip surf rolls, howling chorused-out guitar, droning Adderall haze, and a singer who makes Will Shatter sound like Scott Walker. Imagine Moolah playing at a beach party on the edge of the Kentucky River, big gray globs of unidentifiable garbage drifting silently past and the dense wet air becomes gridlocked with mosquitoes"- Trevor Tremaine (Hair Police) 

Admittedly, I don't know any of the bands referenced in this review. But damn if I'm not interested.

Listen To Each Other - a short film

Shoulder-to-shoulder; worlds apart.
We’ll listen to anything except each other. 

+++

Meanwhile, in filmmaking news... I've been working on a new short film idea. Titled LISTEN TO EACH OTHER, the piece centers on random commuters on a train during rush hour. I used to take MUNI to work every day and would watch the swirling mass of people suffer through the indignities of mass transit - most retreating to whatever diversion was served up on their headphones.

"What is THAT guy listening to? And her? Oh, man... Do I hear strains of Katy Perry spilling out from that kid's headhphones?"

I decided that this needed a film and that I was just the right guy to put it together. I've begun searching for the talented people that will make it happen - starting with an Executive Producer. While not an expensive piece, for the film to be shot correctly it'll need proper financial backing. 

Have a look at the website and let me know if you'd like to get involved.