Woodkid

Currently on heavy rotation in my life is compositions by neofolk musician Woodkid,stage name for the Frenchman Yoann Lemoine.  Sonically like the strange love child of Antony Hegarty and Patrick Wolf, Woodkid's songs are epic compositions of acoustic grace and full blown baroque orchestration  with subtle electronic flourishes. His somber and epic black and white videos enhance the sensory overload his music provides.

     Lemoine is a a sought after graphic designer, art director and music video director in addition to his impeccable song craft. He's helmed such mainstream success as "Teenage Dream" for Katy Perry, "Born to Die" for Lana Del Rey and "Back to December " for Taylor Swift.  

   None of those pop tunes can prepare you for Woodkid's own soundscapes however, and that is a very good thing. His keen eye for detail unspools across track after track on his debut ep Iron and in perfect form on the full lp THE GOLDEN AGE.

Check out a section of his singles after the jump.

TAN MOM

Last we saw of out dear friend Tan Mom she was coco brown, leathery as a sofa and in deep trouble for taking her small child to atanning bed with her. Well She's back with a new single about her experiences... quite possibly the worste vanity project video I HAVE EVER SEEN/SORT OF HEARD WHILE SCREAMING WHY AT THE SCREEN!


 BEHOLD after the jump

R.I.P. Jonathan Winters

Comedian Jonathan Winters has died, he was 87.  The actor starred in numerous film and television roles such as "Mork and Mindy" and "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World" and "The Smurfs".

Elysium (dir. Neil Blomkamp)

     Easily down one of the greatest contemporary science fiction films ever made was Neil Blomkamp's disturbing, visceral, and moving South African set masterpiece District 9. A film so out of left field yet so dead-on-the-money it even got a rare Oscar nomination for Best Picture, not something Science fiction and horror films often do. Blomkamp has returned with Matt Damon, Diego Luna, Sharito Copely (from District 9)  and a perfectly cast Jodi Foster for the class warfare sci-fi film ELYSIUM

Tom (dir. Vesa Kuosmanen and Henri Huttunen 2015)

A feature film on  Touko Laaksonen the man who became ubiquitous queer art icon Tom of Finland??? Yes please!
Here is the production teaser for the film set to lens next year for a 2015 release date. 

Tuesday Time Out (Floria Sigismondi Day!)

This Week's Tuesday Time out is focused less on the audio and more on the visual (though these are some choice tracks). The common thread are all these clips were directed by the übertalented director and visual artist Floria Sigismondi.  Her iconic camera work and beautifully decayed art direction style made her work instantly memorable, the stuff of nightmares and wishes come true all at once.

Sigismondi is easily one of my visual art heroes.  Shockrocker Marilyn Manson owes the bulk of his breakthrough success on her video work for him helping create the band's iconic look during this influential Antichrist Superstar era So today here's a smattering of her works.

Courtney Love is SMOKING (in an Advert)

Oh Courtney, perennial hot mess, actress, widow, rock star, spokeswoman...
The Hole -front woman pops up[ in this NJoy electronic cigarette advert, being very Courtney Love like.

Tuesday Time Out

So the theme of this week's Tuesday Time Out is apparently songs with sexy video. I can't help it it's spring time, these things are on my mind I guess. Spring has SPRUNG.

Drake Bell nude (?!)

Drake Bell, Not to be confused with former deGrassis star and rapper Drake (who we'd love to see strutting around in the buff) no this is quasi former kid star (he's now 26) Drake Bell of Nickalodeon's Drake and Josh and currently on the unthinkable horror that is ABC's SPLASH  (you know diving with the "stars"). He's also the voice of Peter Parker on The Ultimate Spiderman.  

 Oh and he's also naked a lot on Twitter... 

Light From Underground : James Bidgood and Pink Narcissus

LIGHT FROM UNDERGROUND: a continuing series of under represented queer icons, personal heroes and trailblazers who helped make the world we have today a bit more beautiful and bearable. 

Photographer, filmmaker, and window dresser James Bidgood has been more influential to art and erotica then can possibly be stated. Fewer know his name than should but without Bidgood and his art direction and style there would be no Pierre and Gilles (I'm a  huge fan of theirs, but they blatantly ape from his play book) nor David LaChapelle. Fassbinder's film adaptation of Jean Genet's  Queerelle owes quite the debt as well.

Lords of Salem (dir. Rob Zombie)

Everyone knows I'm an unapologetic horror fan, and call me crazy but I actually love Rob Zombie. I don't even hate his re-envisioning of Halloween (the first of the two films is quite strong, though I'll concede his sequel while having some surreal and beautiful moments is uneven). House of 1000 Corpses is good campy fun and his quasi sequel The Devil's Rejects is just plain brilliant (if at times borderline torture porn in the first half) and well The Haunted World of El Superbeasto  were I  a straight stoner dude-  I'd LOVE that one) ... But of all his films LORDS OF SALEM (in theaters  April 19th) might be the film for me.

Wicker Man vs The Teletubies

It's time for the rites of spring, welcome  the new year !
To celebrate rebirth and fertility sometimes you got to make some sacrifices.
Robin Hardy's The Wicker Man is one of my favorite horror films and the Teletubbies kind of scare me so this is a brilliantly perfect mash up. 

Happy Easter

For those of you out there who celebrate this Christian(formerly pagan) holiday HAPPY EASTER!

Rankin and Bass are heroes of mine from their stop-motion wonders like Rudolph the red-nosed Reindeer to their feature film works like The Last Unicorn to iconic tv series Thundercats (from which they inadvertently helped start what would become the much beloved and critically acclaimed Studio Ghibli.) they created masterworks... except when they didn't.

Two Dogs (dir. Sarah Sherman and Zachary Ray Sherman)

Portland Oregon's Sherman Siblings are making their feature film debut. .. and could use some help funding their dream (as do all struggling artists-you should see my piecemeal financial plan on Spark-there's a reason that took 3 years to shoot).

People always want to read a new novel, graphic novel, listen to a new band, record, see a film or a play, got to an art opening... well where do you think these magical arts come from? This is a job, a very hard one despite some thoughts on the life of an artist.  Artists are at the core of civilized culture and yet the least appreciated these days...so help a brother (and sister ) out if you can HERE.

Gentleman Reg- Waiting Around For Gold

As a long time fan of queer Canadian rocker Gentleman Reg a new album is always an exciting prospect. His jangly guitars and singular, breathy voice has lead to many a sing-a-longs in the shower (the Boyfriend Song, It's Not Safe are two particularly good ones for such occasions) and the new record promises to be no exception. "Waiting around for Gold" the lead single from Leisure Life is one of those tracks where you hear the lyrics and immediately wish you had written them. So direct and so honest but still poetic and musical.

Leisure Life  Gentleman Reg's follow up to 2009's excellent Jet Black was released as three eps then compiled into a condensed version for a full album release- similar to the way Swedish indiepop star Robyn released her brilliant album Body Talk in 2010 .