The Kills is an indie rock band formed by American vocalist and guitarist Alison Mosshart & British guitarist Jamie Hince. Their three albums, Keep On Your Mean Side, No Wow and Midnight Boom, have gathered much critical praise(Actually, I don't know their last albums).
Keep on your mean side
Their first album wa similar in style to the EP, veering from the Velvets-esque stomp of "Wait" to the noisy, dirty garage punk blues of "Fuck the People" (this song is rumoured to be a reference/homage to the French convicted criminal Florence Rey) and dark psychedelia of "Kissy Kissy". The record was well received by the music press, though the White Stripes comparisons would not go away.
My favourite song from them
Maintaining an anti-careerist, anti-music industry attitude, the band rarely granted interviews. Rather, they got the music press to come to them with their minimalist yet powerful live shows (which also included the drum machine), the pair maintaining an air of tension by subverting the expected role of stage performer. Mosshart chain-smoked while singing, rarely speaking to the audience, whilst Hince violently ripped blues riffs from his instrument. At a New York City show following the ban on public smoking, Mosshart went on stage with three bottles of water, lit up a cigarette and proceeded to smoke constantly from the first song to the last note of the set.
No wow:
Featuring an artier, less "guitar rock" sound, the record embraced post punk influences and sounded even more stripped down than Keep on Your Mean Side. Originally written to be performed on a Moog, the band was forced to change directions and record it primarily using a guitar as its central instrument after Hince's Moog broke and couldn't be repaired before entering the studio. A 40-minute DVD documentary was included with a limited number of copies and features interview, performance and on the road footage shot on tour.
The first single, "The Good Ones", from No Wow, was released on 7 February 2005 and reached number 23 in the UK singles charts.
Since No Wow, the band released a 3th studio album called Midnight Boom. I don't know that album at all, sorry gents....
Delicatessen (1991) is a French black comedy film, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro, starring Dominique Pinon and Karin Viard. It is set in a post-apocalyptic apartment building in a France of an ambiguous time period. The story focuses on the tenants of the apartment building and their desperate bids to survive. Among these characters is a newly arrived tenant, who arrives to replace a tenant whose reason for departure is initially unclear. The butcher, Clapet, is the leader of the apartment who strives to keep control and balance in the apartment.
It is largely a character-based film, with much of the interest being gained from each tenants own particular idiosyncrasies and their relationship to each other.
Trailer
Plot: Delicatessen begins in a dilapidated apartment building in rural post-apocalyptic 1950s France. Food is in short supply, with grain used as currency and animal populations dwindling, having been hunted to extinction. At the foot of the apartment building is a butcher's shop, run by the landlord, Clapet (Jean-Claude Dreyfus), who posts job opportunities in the "Hard Times" paper as means to lure victims to the building, whom he murders and butchers as a cheap source of meat that he sells to his tenants.
Following the "departure" of the last worker, unemployed circus clown Louison (Dominique Pinon) arrives to dance and fly around for the vacant position. During his routine maintenance, he gradually befriends Julie Clapet (Marie-Laure Dougnac), which slowly blossoms into a romantic relationship. Aware of her father's motives and Louison's imminent death, Julie descends into the sewers to make contact with the feared Troglodistes, a vegetarian sub-group of French rebels, whom she convinces to help rescue Louison.
Babel is a 2006 film, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu and written by Guillermo Arriaga, starring an ensemble cast. The multi-narrative drama completes González Iñárritu's Death Trilogy, which also consists of Amores perros and 21 Grams.
Babel invents multiple stories taking place in Morocco, Japan, Mexico and the United States. It was an international co-production among production companies based in France, Mexico and the US. The film was first screened at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, and was later shown to audiences at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Zagreb Film Festival. It opened in selected cities in the United States on October 27, 2006, and went into wide release on November 10, 2006. On January 15, 2007, it won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Drama. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and two nominations for Best Supporting Actress and won one for Best Original Score.
Girls in Hawaii is a Belgian indie pop band. They started getting famous in 2001.
In 2000, Antoine Wielemans and Lionel Vancauwenberghe began recording songs on an 8 track-recorder, and a few months later they formed the band by recruiting their brothers: Denis Wielemans and Brice Vancauwenberghe, and two friends: Christophe Léonard and Daniel Offermann.
Girls in Hawaii's first release was Found in the Ground: The Winter EP in early 2003, after which the band toured through Belgium and France. In the meantime, they started recording what would become their first LP.
From Here To There was released in November 2003 in Belgium and in early 2004 in Europe. It was well-received across Europe, where the band went on a promotional tour, through Belgium, France, Italy, Germany and Spain. The record was later released in Japan, and in October 2005 China Shop Music released it in the United States. The band started a short tour of the West Coast of the United States in April 2006.
Their second full-length album, Plan Your Escape was released in February 2008 in Europe. It was recorded in old houses in the forests of Ardennes by producer Jean Lamoot (who has worked with French artists such as Noir Désir and Alain Bashung). The album, more complex and eclectic than the previous, contains twelve songs, among them, the first single which is called This Farm Will End Up In Fire. The band has toured Europe promoting the album during 2008.
"Hold tight" (previous post) reminds me another song, from the movie Death Proof by Quentin Tarantino named Chick Habit (Laisse tomber les filles originaly).
"Laisse tomber les filles" is a French song composed by Serge Gainsbourg and performed by France Gall in 1964. April March recorded two covers of the song in 1995: one with the original French lyrics, and another, "Chick Habit," with English lyrics written by March.
The song's lyrics describe future disenchantment predicted by one possessed of "an innocent heart" (the vocalist), which was regarded as being completely at odds with the concerns expressed lyrically by other teenagers singing at the time. The lyrical complexity of the song, particularly when considered in light of its young performer, was not universally well-received. Gilles Verland wrote regarding this situation that
Gainsbourg's lyrics obviously have nothing to do with the worldview expressed by other teenage vocalists of the time; of course their world has its charms, but it has not a single atom of depth. In the lyrics of Gainsbourg's songs in general, and Laisse tomber les filles in particular, there is a startling lucidity coupled with a refusal to be taken in by "the great farce of love", defined in terms of "never" and "always". But, with Laisse tomber les filles, we are not presented with a male narrator of thirty or thirty-five years, but rather a teenager.
France Gall's vindictive lyrics are supported by the well-known jazz band led by Gogo (the same group with whom Gainsbourg was recording at the time). The song's emphasis on brass and percussion is regarded as being integral to its success. Fondness within the English-speaking world for the "French pop sound" makes the song continue to be popular to this day.
"Chick Habit" is played during the opening credits of But I'm a Cheerleader by Jamie Babbit. Both versions of the song, first English and then French, are played during the end credits of the movie Death Proof by Quentin Tarantino.
Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich were a chart topping British pop/rock group of the 1960s.
In summer 1964, British songwriters Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley became interested in recording them. The band was set up in the studio to make recordings with then famous producer of The Honeycombs, Joe Meek. These recording sessions failed to get anywhere off the ground as an interview with Dave Dee stated that Joe Meek "had very strange recording techniques. He wanted us to play the song at half speed and then he would speed it up and put all these little tricks on it. We said we couldn't do it that way. He exploded, threw coffee all over the studio and stormed up to his room. His assistant Patric Pink came in and said, "Mr Meek will not be doing any more recording today." That was it. We lugged all our gear out and went back home." While these recording session proved unsuccessful they eventually gained a recording contract with Fontana Records.
They changed their name to Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich — an amalgam of their nicknames. The distinctive name, coupled with well produced and catchy songs by Howard and Blaikley, quickly caught the UK's public's imagination and their records started to sell in abundance. Indeed, between 1965 and 1969, the group spent more weeks in the UK Singles Chart than The Beatles.
Vocalist Dee, the ex-policeman, was at the scene of the automobile accident that took the life of American rocker Eddie Cochran and injured Gene Vincent in April 1960. Dee had taken Cochran's guitar from the accident and held it until it could be returned to his family.
My favourite song from them (notice that the song is part of the Tarantino's Death Proof soundtrack)
They also scored a Number One hit on the UK chart in 1968 with "The Legend of Xanadu". This particular track made it 'big' worldwide - even in the United States (where they had previously had little success). Their other Top Ten UK hits included "Hideaway", "Hold Tight!", "Bend It!", "Save Me", "Touch Me, Touch Me", "Okay!", "Zabadak!" and "Last Night in Soho".
Although the group never gained much popularity in America, they were big sellers elsewhere in the world. In Australia, for instance, they reached the Top Ten with tracks such as "Hold Tight!", "Bend It!", "Zabadak!" and "The Legend of Xanadu" - the last achieving Number One.
In September, 1969, Dee left the group for a short-lived solo career. The rest, re-billed as (D,B,M and T) continued releasing records, until they broke up in 1972. In the 1980s the group reformed again without Dee although there was one further single with him, "Staying With It" in 1983.
In the 1990s, at a time when many other of their contemporary bands were also reforming to tour on the lucrative "oldies circuit", they started performing once more, this time with their one-time leader, Dee.
Band members * Dave Dee (David John Harman) – lead vocals * Dozy (Trevor Leonard Ward-Davies) – bass guitar * Beaky (John Dymond) – rhythm guitar * Mick (Michael Wilson) – drums * Tich (Ian Frederick Stephen Amey) – lead guitar
(Dave Dee, the lead singer died from a cancer in London on 9 January 2009.)
"Karma Police" is a song by English alternative rock band Radiohead from their 1997 third studio album OK Computer. The song's title and lyrics derive from an in-joke among the band, referring to nonsensical retributive enforcement of karma.
"Karma Police" was released as the second single from OK Computer, and became a commercial success, charting at number eight on the UK Singles Chart and number fourteen on the US Hot Modern Rock Tracks. The song made #33 on the Dutch Top 40. Critical reception to the single was also favourable. In addition, it made #50 in The Netherlands, #35 in Belgium, #15 in Finland and #32 in New Zealand.
Karma Police remains as one of the most famous songs from Radiohead.
Music Video:
The music video for the song was directed by Jonathan Glazer, previously responsible for Radiohead's "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" clip. The video premiered in August 1997 and featured Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke as well as Hungarian actor Lajos Kovács. Glazer won MTV's Director of the Year award in 1997 for his work on this, as well as Jamiroquai's "Virtual Insanity".[citation needed] Glazer however revealed in an interview that he considers this video to be a failed attempt.
The video starts with the camera, an unseen driver, looking at the empty back seat of 1976 Chrysler New Yorker at night. The 'driver' then faces the windshield and begins driving. For 35 seconds, it shows nothing but a road through grass illuminated by headlights, with bugs visible around the windshield. A figure is then seen running from the car. In time for the chorus the view shifts back to the back seat, where Thom Yorke now sits, almost mumbling his lyrics. The view yet again moves to the figure, who is close to being mowed down, as the view again switches to Yorke, now slouching drowsily against the back of the front seat, barely lipsyncing any longer. The camera swivels again and the figure appears again, close this time. For the first time another perspective reveals the outside of the car. The pursued figure sharpens and is revealed to be a large man with a frightened look. As the car comes to a stop before him, the man raises his hands and puts them behind his back as if in resignation, then takes matches from his pocket, lights one, and throws it down. The perspective shifts to the car's interior. The car suddenly reverses, away from the man, revealing a petrol leak which now blazes a path on the road back toward the car. The car slowly catches fire, and the camera/driver finally turns frantically to the back seat and robotically swivels back and forth, only to find that Yorke is no longer there.
Lyrics:
Karma police, arrest this man, he talks in maths He buzzes like a fridge, hes like a detuned radio Karma police, arrest this girl, her hitler hairdo, is making me feel ill And we have crashed her party This is what you get, this is what you get This is what you get, when you mess with us
Karma police, Ive given all I can, its not enough Ive given all I can, but were still on the payroll This is what you get, this is what you get This is what you get, when you mess with us And for a minute there, I lost myself, I lost myself And for a minute there, I lost myself, I lost myself
Love Me If You Dare (French title: Jeux d'enfants — "Children's Games" in English) is a 2003 French film directed by Yann Samuell.
Plot: The game begins when Julien (Guillaume Canet) and Sophie (Marion Cotillard) are children, but as they grow older they intensify and become more twisted and dangerous. Although they are in love with each other, the game of dare later dictates their future, and the dare even goes as far as hurting and tricking each other.
The movie trailer
The overarching theme is of a struggle between childhood playfulness and the expectations of the adult world: the characters age significantly over the course of the film, and Julien is forced — several times — to pick between the pink–coloured world of fun represented by Sophie, or the expectations, demands, and successes of the adult world represented by his father and his eventual wife and children. Sophie, meanwhile, is content to live her life — as she puts it "a cream puff", becoming a trophy wife to a successful soccer player. Nonetheless, she keeps returning to Julien, despite her superficial satisfaction with what she has.
Imagery: Keystone to the film is a small tin box in the shape of a carousel. In a flash–forward segment, the film opens with a shot of a construction site, with the box partially enveloped in concrete. Once we return to the present, we see Julien initially receives it from his mother, and upon seeing Sophie being mistreated by other children at school, presents it to her. He hopes she'll lend it back on occasion, but she demands he do something daring to prove he really wants it. Thereafter, the two are engaged in a playful rivalry: whoever has the box can force the other to perform a dare to get it back. A few examples of dares are Julien getting married, Sophie wearing her underwear outside her clothes, Julien stealing a car, them slapping an athlete at school, and ultimately, getting buried in concrete. The film ultimately ends with a nearly identical shot to the opening, with the box once again partially enveloped in concrete.
The film's visual style also reflects the setting: while Julien and Sophie are children, the world is slightly fuzzy, and everything is bright and colourful. As they grow older, the film becomes sharper, and the colour more realistic. In a hypothetical scene of the two as an elderly couple, the film again becomes fuzzy, but now has a definite sepia tint.
A romance: Romance with a capital "R," French style, is at the heart of Love Me if You Dare, a sometimes exhilarating, sometimes frustrating movie that borrows stylistically from Amelie. It is about Julien and Sophie, two people who are totally in love with each other, yet cannot admit it to each other, and cannot quite admit it to themselves. It's a love that spans from childhood to the mid-thirties or so, and Love Me If You Dare jumps forward showing how the pair progress over time. It begins when Julien (Thibault Verhaeghe) consoles Sophie (Josephine Lebas-Joly, A L'Abri des Regards Indiscrets, Beautiful Mother) after bullies make fun of the fact that she is Polish. He gives her a toy carousel, and everything stems from there. The two develop a bond and a game; if Sophie has the toy, Julien must do whatever she dares him to, and vice versa. The two slowly grow up, closer than ever, and Julien (Guillaume Canet, Tell no one, The Beach, The Warrior's Brother) and Sophie (Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose, Big Fish, A Private Affair) make their dares even more extreme.
Slap him if you dare !!!
Their love is like an addiction. The dares become life threatening at times, and nobody, especially Julien's father (Gerard Watkins, The Wolf of the West Coast) approves. It becomes a hugely disruptive element in their live, enough for the two to dare not to meet for years at a time. Then, the movie will jump forward, and they will pick up right where they left off, their love stronger than ever. It meets even more resistance when both become married to other people. It is as if their dares to each other are ways to prove that they love the other person more than their spouse. For a while, there is something sweet about the antics of these two people. They will do anything for each other, and are hiding their feelings behind dares. At about the halfway point, director Yann Samuell ups the ante, and makes these dares extremely dangerous. Enough so that it feels like Sophie and Julien have death wishes. They are in committed relationships, and unable to truly express their love to each other, so they begin daring each other with cruel, almost sadistic games.
This is Samuell's first film. It is bright, colorful, full of happy music, and zips along quickly, adding to a sense of happy tension between the two. Cotillard and Canet are beautiful people, and their rapid aging (typically signified by different clothes and hairstyles) looks plausible enough. They make an appealing couple, and have wonderful chemistry together when they are not pissed at each other. There is a sense of fate looming over the horizon, and everybody in the film realizes this, but doesn't seem to want to take that extra step to make fate a reality. This wonderful feeling of anticipation gives way to dread when Samuell makes the film much darker. These two people who were so attractive seem less so, especially when their intentions become all the more malicious.
But then a really strange thing happens. Samuell takes things a step further, with an ending that could only feel at place in a French film. It is wonderfully romantic and sad at the same time, but manages to bring back the sense of inevitability that was present in the first part of Love Me If You Dare. It's an ending that seems to fit perfectly with the story, yet is completely unexpected. The uneven tone gives a sense of imbalance to the story, part of which is necessary, and part of which serves to distract the viewer.
