I ♥ the Replacements

In the early 80’s as the Replacements were hitting their stride, I was distracted:  by marriage, work and play in NY, the dawn of CD’s, the rise of Prince, REM and Run DMC and, I’m embarrassed to say, the Pet Shop Boys.  My bad. 

With no radio play to hook me and informed only by a rock press I had come to mistrust, I lumped the Replacements not incorrectly with Dinosaur Jr, the Pixies and Pavement, writing the whole lot off as too loud and punky to matter to me. And so I would have missed the boat forever except for the time warp of iTunes, where everything old is eternally available for reappraisal.  Thank you, Steve Jobs.

Here for your bemusement (if you loved them all along) or your own belated discovery are the tunes I have come to love from a band that has become one of my favorites. 

I Will Dare – As elemental as “Louie, Louie” but more clearly enunciated.  “How smart are you? How dumb am I?” 

Bastards of Young – This is actually the kind of music I thought they made: rude, loud, with a searing guitar.  I just like it better than I knew. 

Achin to Be – A reminder that a country twang jangles through some of their best songs. 

Swinging Party – A swaying tune on which you could mistake the Mats for Billy Bragg, to the credit of both. 

And because Mats main man Paul Westerberg is still recording, one from him, too:  Love You in the Fall. 

Turn it up, indeed.

Reeling – Submarine

I can’t be the only one here who has a weakness for coming of age movies.  Me?  I’ll take it in just about any form -- the auteur variety: The 400 Blows, the Last Picture Show, American Graffiti; the ironic and oddball: Igby Goes Down, Rushmore; and of course the teen crisis ouevre of John Hughes that began with 16 Candles.  I’m not sure why this should be.  My own adolescence was long ago and, in the end, not so painful.   

But here comes Submarine, a recent, irresistible Welsh take on the form which proves once again the timeless appeal of a well-told tale of teenage humiliations. We meet Oliver, a 16 year-old who has real reasons to be embarrassed by his Python-esque parents, and Jordanna, the gothy object of his affections. 

Poor Oliver’s world is in full tilt.  His Dad is depressed, his Mum is flirting (or worse) with a pathetic old flame, and Jordana is at risk of being softened up by her mother’s cancer.  And in keeping with the conventions of the oddball strain of the genre, these two find solace in petty pyromania.

Submarine is an affecting and original reminder of how fragile and durable we are through the strange passage of adolescence.  Not as dark as Harold and Maude, it's every bit as funny.  Major props to first-time director Richard Ayoade for this film’s freshness, which doesn’t just come from the Swansea setting.  On iTunes and Netflix. 

Shortlist - February

The month is short and so is this list of new tunes worth a listen.

1.  Bon Iver, Holocene - Dreamy, winter music named after the human epoch.

2.  Nada Surf,  Jules and Jim– A power pop song with a title cribbed from Truffaut.  What could be more perfect?

3.  The Head and the Heart , Down in the Valley  - Gentle song, beautifully sung.  "Lord have mercy on my rough and rowdy ways."

4.  Cloud  Nothings,  Stay Useless – Draw a straight line through the Ramones, the Buzzcocks and the Strokes and it ends right here. 

5.  Of Monsters and Men, Little Talk – Imitation?  Flattery?  Hope this is OK with Edward Sharpe & the MZ's, and Florence and her Machine.    

Hang on.  March is coming.