Random Questions with: Clatter Clatter

While I cultivate the article for the latest band I've interviewed, Clatter Clatter, read the random questions and get to know the band... AHOY!

Favorite Movie?
Tie between Pulp Fiction and Ghostbusters and Donnie Darko and Back To The Future

The id, superego, or ego?
Superego. We Love exclamations.

Painting or Sculpture?
Painting sculptures.

The first animal you look for in the zoo?
Koala bears. They're so fucking cute. Way better than cockroaches.

First album that made you interested in music?

It's different for all of us. The Eagles' "Greatest Hits Volume 2". Van Halen's "5150". Chuck Berry's "The Great 28".

Toronto or Montreal?
Toronto. Canadians suck. (Some of us are rabid hockey fans.)

Most disgusting sandwich ever created?
I once saw a picture of this guy's McDonald's special: something like 12 meat patties, smothered in grease and cheese. *Shudder* Y'all should stick to the Nashua Garden for sandwiches.

Your dream license plate?
ASSMAN.

Best musical?
"The Secret Garden" because Keith was in it in 11th grade.

Worst lyrics you've heard in a song before?
From a credible artist? "Queen of the Supermarket" by Bruce Springsteen or anything from the past several Weezer albums. Also, and let us preface this with the fact that we love Paul McCartney's solo work. But his last album had some terrible lyrics. The worst is: "what we are, is what we are. And what we wear...is vintage clothes."

Review: Alela Diane's "To Be Still"

When I look back on the different seasons every year, there is always an artist/album or two that I listen to that becomes my quintissential album for that point in time. Everything about Alela Diane's new album makes it the perfect winter album - her soothing voice and the folk/americana sound of her music as a whole could warm up anyone during the end of these cold months. To Be Still, Alela Diane's latest album, is the perfect "relaxing" album, the kind of thing you listen to, imagining that you're in the countryside, snowed in, drinking hot cider. Alela Diane has one of the most unique voices I've heard in music today; the sturdy subtlety in her voice is soulful without being dominating, and is gently coaxed by the acoustic, light sounds of the music.

Another thing I enjoy about Still is that this is no neo-folk/sub-genre/generic indie music that you'll hear, which is good, as, let's be honest - that gets boring after a while. This is traditional folk, all the way down to the meditative lyrics, which primarily talk about nature and human feelings. Overall, Still leaves its listener warm; which is perfect while we hold out for the last month or so of winter.



Still is available now, and Alela will be touring over the next couple of months. Want to listen? Her myspace is www.myspace.com/alelamusic. So far, my favorite song is Dry Grass and Shadows, the same song that was the free download on iTunes a couple of weeks back.

Here's her tour schedule in the U.S. (as gotten from her MySpace):

Feb 15 2009 9:00P	Holocene CD release show! w/ homeboy Aaron Ross!	PORTLAND, Oregon
Feb 18 2009 8:00P	First Avenue w/ Blitzen Trapper(venue changed)	Minneapolis, Minnesota
Feb 19 2009 6:30P	The Empty Bottle - EARLY SHOW!	Chicago, Illinois
Feb 19 2009 9:00P	Empty Bottle-SOLD OUT	Chicago, Illinois
Feb 20 2009 8:00P	Magic Stick w/ Blitzen Trapper	Detroit, Michigan
Feb 21 2009 8:00P	Horseshoe Tavern w/ Blitzen Trapper	Toronto
Feb 22 2009 8:00P	La Sala Rossa w/ Blitzen Trapper	Montreal
Feb 24 2009 8:00P	Bug Jar w/ Blitzen Trapper	Rochester, New York
Feb 25 2009 8:00P	Pearl Street Nightclub w/ Blitzen Trapper	Northampton, Massachusetts
Feb 26 2009 8:00P	Paradise w/ Blitzen Trapper	Boston, Massachusetts
Feb 27 2009 8:00P	Bowery Ballroom - SOLD OUT	New York, New York
Feb 28 2009 8:00P	Music Hall of Williamsburg w/ Blitzen Trapper	Brooklyn, New York
Mar 1 2009 8:00P	First Unitarian Church w/ Blitzen Trapper	philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Mar 2 2009 8:00P	Black Cat w/ Blitzen Trapper	washington DC, Washington DC
Mar 4 2009 8:00P	40 Watt Club w/ Blitzen Trapper	Athens, Georgia
Mar 5 2009 8:00P	Orange Peel w/ Blitzen Trapper	Asheville, North Carolina
Mar 6 2009 8:00P	Mercy Lounge w/ Blitzen Trapper	Nashville, Tennessee
Mar 7 2009 8:00P	The Bottletree w/ Blitzen Trapper	Birmingham, Alabama
Mar 8 2009 8:00P	Hi-Tone Cafe w/ Blitzen Trapper	Memphis, Tennessee
Mar 9 2009 8:00P	The Opolis w/ Blitzen Trapper	Norman, Oklahoma
Mar 10 2009 8:00P	Jackpot Saloon w/ Blitzen Trapper	Lawrence, Kansas
Mar 12 2009 8:00P	Hi Dive w/ Blitzen Trapper	Denver, Colorado
Mar 13 2009 8:00P	Kilby Court w/ Blitzen Trapper	Salt Lake City, Utah
Mar 15 2009 8:00P	Hotel Cafe	Los Angeles, California

I would like to say that I'm going to Pearl Street, but I highly doubt I'll be able to get there, sadly. HOWEVER! I know that I'm either going to of Montreal or Elvis Perkins in April (yay!), so there will be some type of posting to ensue at that time.

Places of Interest: The American Folk Art Museum, New York City

Although it is not as big as the met or MoMA, the American Folk Art Museum is worth a visit next time you go to New York City. The Met and MoMA, while they are excellent museums, are hard to spend less than half a day in. The American Folk Museum is a great half-day trip, perfect for the person who wants to see all of New York City AND a museum in one day.

Located at 45 West 53rd street, it is right next to the Museum of Modern Art and across the street from MoMA's gift shop. The museum's collection focuses on the ideals of Folk Art: the sense of community, craftsmanship, and sense of diversity, among other ideals. The works are anything from 18th century textiles, pottery, and paintings to 20th century sculptures and artifacts. All of the pieces tell some sort of story; they're not just a pretty thing to be adorned on a wall (speaking of which, there is an actual wall taken from a New Hampshire home that is absolutely riveting). These were pieces of art that were actually used in the home, or had a story of some kind at some point. To me, these pieces were real art.

Amongst all the art, I discovered Henry Darger for the first time. The museum has a lot of information about him, which was great for fostering my immediate interest in his art. The museum gift shop had a lot of information on him too, including a book of all the pieces in their collection, the documentary done on him a couple of years back, and a few postcards (I would have gotten the book and documentary if I had the money; alas, I didn't, so I supplied my fancy with 2 postcards). Also, the museum has the Henry Darger Study Center, which houses research on the artist. There is also a fellowship that involves the Henry Darger Study Center. To view the application for the Henry Darger Study Center Fellowship, click here.

Currently, the exhibits at the American Folk Art Museum are "The Seduction of Light: Ammi Philips/Mark Rothko Compositions in Pink, Green, and Red", which will be on display until March 29, 2009; "Martin Ramirez: The Last Works", on display until April 12, 2009; and "Up Close: Henry Darger", which will be on display until September 2009. Whether you know a lot about folk art or not, this museum is worth the visit.

Something That Someone Should Do.

I will admit that I'm a facebook fiend. I'm not "that person" on your friends list with a million pictures up and a million applications, but I am "that person" who absolutely LOVES facebook groups. Which is okay, considering the fact that there are some pretty great groups on facebook - one to cater to my every interest, even the most minute things!
Among them, my recent favorite is "I picked a major I liked, and one day I will probably be living in a box", as this, like many of my artsy counterparts, is my future in a nutshell. If you were to view the discussion topic for this group, you'd notice some witty comments remarking on how they'll make their box unique, a remark highly understandable as it is coming from a lot of current art/history/music/writing/english/philosophy/PRIMARILY art future/current students. This sparked an idea in me - how has no photographer seen the opportunity in this?!
Although I do not own a camera, I've always fantasized about being a photographer. It seems like it would be an exciting endeavor to create an exhibit of photographs about one subject matter, and one of those could be the numerous college graduates-to-be and their fantasy boxes. Although many of these don't include the people who will eventually be living in them, they're still pretty cool! Do see:


The dream cardboard house...


this one is cute...that kid is kind of freaky though...


This reminded me of that show "Out of the Box", the awesome show where they made it seem as if you could create a ridiculously awesome clubhouse out of a couple of cardboard boxes, some paint, and your imagination. Ohhh childhood, how you were so innocent.


It's the most realistic of all the ones ive seen...


Probably the cutest one I saw was this one made by a mother for her daughter. It's the quintessential house for all my friends, as they love cats.


Most of these boxes had children in them. While i was a plastic-toy-house/chairs-and-sheets kid, I think a group should be formed for those kids of this generation who enjoy their cardboard boxes, and plan to attain permanent residence in them as the future starving artists/musicians/writers...and this girl can be their spokesperson:

...then I'm going to make a replica cardboard house like this one. Except for it'll also include a "free therapy sessions for food" sign outside of it, and my two double-major psychology/journalism degrees taped up onto the wall.

Burlesque Dancing: an Act for Feminism or Against It?

Many times, Burlesque Dancers describe what they do as "pro-women", or "pro-feminism", saying that they do it to increase their self-esteem, that they do it for themselves, and that rather than a form of striptease, it's a form of artistic expression. However, others entirely disagree; this is the minority who see burlesque dancers and know that the sexed-up, scantily clad group The Pussycat Dolls were originally a burlesque group. The same group was probably disgusted with the similarly curvy Bratz dolls that were popular among little girls but looked down upon by the parents, who already had enough trouble teaching their girls to be themselves in the era of 16th birthday plastic surgery gifts and sexed-up and screwed-up Brittney Spears.
Truly, there are justifiable points to each side. Burlesque becomes too stereotyped as "striptease" in our society, when it really covers a large scope including comedy, skits, and variety-style performance. However, this is America - we over-sex everything (PETA was even able to make vegetables "sexed up" recently...how pathetic is that?), and therefore the what we know today as Neo-Burlesque today will ultimately have sexual connotations. Therefore, sexual connotations equals not pro-women, right?
This opinion is understandable. True, the suffragettes that fought for the right to vote wouldn't have agreed with the general idea of a woman dancing half-naked for her own choice, but, then again, would the feminazis of today agree with it, either? For many women, the idea of getting on a stage and performing, for their own interest, in very little clothing, sounds terrifying. This is because the general audience forgets that it is the women's choice to do so. They aren't the strippers working so they can pay the electricity bill; they make their own calls because they do it for their own interest and appreciation for the art.
However, by naming this an "act of art" or calling it "okay", some can argue that we are telling our children that it is okay to do these things. We may have to fear that their still-developing brains see the similarities between a stripper and a burlesque dancer, for it can't be denied that there are many similarities between the two.
Furthermore, the common definition of feminism is forgotten by the public - the idea that both sexes should have equal rights - and is blown up as something it's not by the deeply pro-women feminists (feminazis, as I called them earlier in this article), who tend to give off the deep resentment of men for rights that they were deprived of - when it was really their ancestors who were deprived of these rights. To me, this is like being angry Germany because your grandfather was in World War II, and lost his innocence in war. However, I'll save my feminism rant for another day.
This being said, is Burlesque truly an act of feminism, if feminism is classified as equality between the sexes? I don't think so. While I do see the positives of burlesque and appreciate it as an art form, I think that the idea of it as an act of feminism is more closely tied to the ideas of the overly-feminist group of feminists, yet at the same time it isn't. With Burlesque, it is as if the dancers are trying to show some superiority over the male sex through the dancing - as if when they dance, this makes them superior over men because they are confident enough to display themselves in a way they consider artistic, and they don't care who's looking, male or female, or what they think about them. While this i-don't-care attitude is admirable, the way it adheres to the subject makes me feel that Burlesque Dancing is not an act of feminism. The lack of interest or acceptance of male burlesque dancing into the mainstream culture of the art makes it seem very unbalanced, also, but, maybe this is just the nature of the art.

Old Abram Brown: Interview & Review (FINALLY!)

After it was published, then accidentally deleted, and so on, I finally have my article on Old Abram Brown ready. Therefore, it is now your responsibility to enjoy!

As I sip my hot chocolate hesitantly this numbing winter, I'm listening to Old Abram Brown, a Boston trio consisting of Carson Lund, Dylan Vukelich, and Erik Lund, whose debut album, Alive in Winter, not only nicely parallels this biting weather, but has become my quintessential "soundtrack" for winter.
Old Abram Brown's sound possesses a Cold War Kids-esque, edgy sound and the complimentary stark, frayed lyrics, such as the first few lines from "Will our Garden Grow?":

"We're so alive in winter, and we're so dead in spring, no one wants to hear the sound of the birds sing, world politics is something we don't know, but we're so stuck on will our garden grow"

When coupled with the bare, stark sound of the music, the music come to life - as songs should, and as it will with true musicians. It is obvious they put effort into their lyrics and their sound overall, as the band says that they are "committed to steering clear of banal "universality" in [their] lyrics", and with the myriad of inspirations for their music including film (one of the band members has his own blog that talks about film, you can access it here) childhood memories, made-up narratives, and "abstract imagery that may or may not mean much of anything", it isn't likely they'll be turning to "universality" in their lyrics anytime soon.
Besides the evident Cold War Kids ambiance of their music, Brown pulls from all sorts of artists and styles, the list including Sigur Ros, Fleet Foxes, Grizzly Bear, gritty country, waltz, and even Mexican Trumpet. They are the music that you listen to time after time and still get a new perspective on the album. Their lives do also stem away from music - Carson is a librarian, Dylan is a busboy, and Erik is a graphic designer in college, which adds to the originality in their music. "I think we all have our strong interests outside of music which I think helps influence our music" says the band, who say they "all realized at different times" that they wanted to do something with music.
If you want to listen to Old Abram Brown, their debut album Alive in Winter is available online through iTunes or their MySpace, www.myspace.com/oldabrambrown. Although their album is already released, their cd release party is happening at TT the Bears in Boston on Febuary 10th, and then they'll make their way down to Keene, NH at the Downstairs Mix-Up for April 17th, with some gigs most likely to show up between that time.