Return of Interpol

After three years of solo projects, the most well dressed band is back. They released their new song "Lights" yesterday and although it sounds refreshingly different from a lot of the bands that fall under the indie umbrella ,it's still ambivalent after a couple of plays. It starts of with a great guitar riff, then everyone joins in gradually but it doesn't really progress anywhere from there. The song lacks the aggressive sound, the complex harmonies and the shifts in mood and tone to be found on previous albums. Banks' vocals and lyrics are mysterious and effortlessly poignant which is always good to hear, the repetition of "That's why I hold you my dear" is quintessential Banks in its dubious nature and sincerity.

Earlier in the year, drummer Sam Fogarino was quoted saying "The new record falls back towards the first" and I was excited even though it does seem a little naive to want to recreate former glory. He also admitted that their third album was "not [their] most cohesive moment". This interview was then countered by Paul Banks who admitted that he "had no idea what Sam was talking about", Banks claims there going in a totally different direction, looking for a more "orchestral" sound. This communication breakdown can only be bad news. This is a precursor to their demise, I may sound a tad dramatic but it's always bad news for a band if they can't agree on anything. Fogarino added "Its such an intense collaboration; four alpha dogs in one room is a lot to deal with". I give them until the end of this eventual tour and that will be it, unfortunately, for Interpol. The are one of my favorite bands and I have been supporting them since "Antics" but if they can no longer balance their chemistry as they used to then maybe it's a positive thing.

Sam Fogarino piece

Paul Bank's statement

"Tim and Eric awesome show" is pretty awesome.

Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim are two comedians who write and star on their own sketch show on the adult swim network. I stumbled upon one of their sketches on youtube yesterday and have become fascinated. Their sketches walk a thin line between hilarious and bizarre.The show features surreal situations, incoherent musical acts and fake advertisements. A lot of the sketches start of as conventional jokes. For example, parodying infommercials and advertisements isn't exactly a new idea but Tim and Eric take the humor and warp it by using editing to push the sketch into the absurd such as in this ad. By looping sounds and repeating shots, the comedians prolong the madness and play with the audience and what they expect from a comedy sketch show. The kitsch quality of the show just adds to the "weird" appeal and a lot of the secondary characters appear to be random, ordinary people brought into the madness. However, it does feel at times that Tim and Eric are exploiting some of the people that come on the show, such as in this song "Come Over".

"Tim and Eric Awesome show" also features some great guest stars: Michael Cera, Zach Galifianakis, Fred Willard to name a few.
I have become obsessed with this show for its daring, its strangeness and its pace. An episode of "Tim and Eric" only lasts ten minutes and yet they fit a lot of quick fire sketches. "Tim and Erics Awesome Show great job" is in the middle of its fifth season on adultswim.

Ribery, Govou and Moroccan hookers.

Just when you thought there were no more reasons to doubt the French team's world cup performance(besides Domenech and the inexperienced team) Sidney Govou and Franck Ribery are being taken to court for allegedly spending time with underage prostitutes. Whether they go to jail for the crimes or go to South Africa ashamed and apologetic it makes you think about the media and our heros.Footballer players have a reputation for being horny prima donnas so when will we discover Fernando Torres' choking fetish and Messi's illegitimate kids? And what will happen to sales of Ribery's jersey? The daily paper "Le Parisien" and "Le point" implies that Morocco is responsible for destroying France's chances:

"les deux joueurs seraient Franck Ribéry et Sidney Govou. Le premier, selon le quotidien, aurait admis connaître une prostituée d'origine marocaine «qui était mineure lorsqu'ils ont commencé à se fréquenter, en 2009», mais «aurait surtout affirmé ignorer qu'elle était mineure au moment de leur rencontre»."

"Le juge Dando enquête en fait sur une boîte de nuit parisienne soupçonnée d'employer des prostituées. Le Café Zaman, fréquenté par certains internationaux français les soirs de victoire, se trouve 66 avenue des Champs-Elysées (Paris VIIIe). Au coeur de l'affaire, selon le Point.fr, un certain Abou, un intermédiaire du monde de la nuit d'origine marocaine"

Is Morocco getting it's revenge on France? Is that what this is about? There has to be a better way. Slash Sarkozy's tires or something.
So when France are playing, the players don't want to win for their country or the world cup?!! They just want to go to Cafe Zaman?
The Full story

Standing up

I have always been a fan of stand-up comedy and have recently started to put together an act of my own. I researched many comedians whilst looking for influence and guidance. These are a few American comedians that really stood out and that I feel people should know here in Europe.

Patton Oswalt

Patton has been doing stand up since the late eighties and has become,in recent years, one of the most prominent comedians on the American scene. You might know him from his role as Spence on "King of Queens", he acts in a small parts on several other TV shows such as Dollhouse, Caprica and Flight of the conchords. He has earned a lot of acclaim simply by being in touch with his audience. Watching his performances, you discover that his material can be very esoteric: he makes precise references to Star wars, H.P Lovecraft, Tom waits and Galaga just to name a few. This is part of his appeal, his audience appreciates these references, it makes them feel special. Patton demonstrates that as a stand up comedian it is important that you understand your audience. It is a fundamental element, it is much easier to win over a crowd if they feel like your talking directly to them about things that they like. It makes the act more personal and intimate. Patton is known for being very articulate and verbose, he is a critic on art and culture and refers to History,literature and science in his routine. This gives him the image of being an intellectual and I think his audience appreciates that blend of sophisticated auto didact and crude comic. Here's one of Oswalt's best anecdotes.



David Cross

Best known for his role as Tobias Fumke on "Arrested Development", this comedian is known for his ultra-sarcasm(Cross on the catholic church). His best work is probably the album "Shut up you fucking baby" was released in 2002. On this album, there are some of his best bits("Shaving the Pope's Pussy","Moica Lewinsky and the three bears") but he is also suprisingly poignant. As the album was released shortly after September 11th, a lot of comedians stopped touring and stopped releasing albums out of respect and out of the fact that people didn't want to laugh. David Cross shows how stand up can be revitalizing and therapeutic, he deals with the terrorist attack and its consequences delicately and tastefully. He also created the sketch show "Mr.Show" with Bob Odenkirk, that ran from 1995 until 1998 on Fox. The programme featured weird and wonderful sketches, sketches that demand patience and pranks that the hosts play on the audience. The Audition sketch demonstrates the show's sense of humour.




Zach Galifiankis
Zach Galifianakis is best known for his performance in "The Hangover" but he is a lot funnier and more bizarre in his stand up routine. In most of his shows he is usually placed behind his piano, playing some soft, beautiful music which seems quite odd once he starts cracking his one liners(Zach live at the Purple Onion).His style is based on one liners which is influenced by the stand up of the 50s and 60s but he adapts it to today's world and delivers the jokes with a sincerety which makes them even more unusual. his routine also feature an array of characters that he has created and he normally ends it with a musical piece where his jokes are all written on a white board(here's Zach as Annie)
He also had his own show and writes sketches for other shows with "Tim and Eric"(here's the commercial they made for a brand of vodka)

Hello, nice to meet you.
This is where I will put all the things that pop into my head for you to read( or not to read). I think I will concentrate on pop culture and just culture in general. I've never had a blog before, so this should be interesting(or not).