JAKE CLELAND

Evangelion 3.0 was perfect in that at the end I was like “What the fuck did I just watch?” The animation is gorgeous but the story takes such a catastrophic detour from the anime that it’s kinda disorienting. It’s also way heavier on the fighting than any other entry in the series, which, if that’s what I wanted I’d just watch Tengen Toppa again where the fights escalate so rapidly the end of the series has killer robots the size of multiple galaxies fighting each other for the continuation of all existence. It started off well enough with a 14 year timeskip but rather than explaining what led to the confusing new world Shinji found himself in, they opted for more robot battles. The series was always at its best exploring the personal motivations, conflicts, and suspicions of its characters (Misato at the Second Impact, Ritsuko and Gendo, Asuka and her mother, Shinji and his craving for approval, etc.) but the only person who gets time for development is Fuyutsuki. I suspect there’ll be more with Misato’s love for Shinji in 4.0, but as it is, you’re better off watching End of Evangelion. It really is stunning to look at, but it was kind of a pain to watch. Disappointing as that is, I’ve been watching this show since I was like eight years old and it hasn’t bored me once.

Evangelion 3.0 was perfect in that at the end I was like “What the fuck did I just watch?” The animation is gorgeous but the story takes such a catastrophic detour from the anime that it’s kinda disorienting. It’s also way heavier on the fighting than any other entry in the series, which, if that’s what I wanted I’d just watch Tengen Toppa again where the fights escalate so rapidly the end of the series has killer robots the size of multiple galaxies fighting each other for the continuation of all existence.

It started off well enough with a 14 year timeskip but rather than explaining what led to the confusing new world Shinji found himself in, they opted for more robot battles. The series was always at its best exploring the personal motivations, conflicts, and suspicions of its characters (Misato at the Second Impact, Ritsuko and Gendo, Asuka and her mother, Shinji and his craving for approval, etc.) but the only person who gets time for development is Fuyutsuki. I suspect there’ll be more with Misato’s love for Shinji in 4.0, but as it is, you’re better off watching End of Evangelion.

It really is stunning to look at, but it was kind of a pain to watch. Disappointing as that is, I’ve been watching this show since I was like eight years old and it hasn’t bored me once.

I made a mixtape of Australian music to listen to in New York and then some people said they wanted a copy, so here it is. It’s called “bloody legends” because that’s what all the bands are. The cover art features some A+ Australian memes. Good songs to listen to while waitin’ for a m8. Here is the tracklist:  

I made a mixtape of Australian music to listen to in New York and then some people said they wanted a copy, so here it is. It’s called “bloody legends” because that’s what all the bands are. The cover art features some A+ Australian memes. Good songs to listen to while waitin’ for a m8.

Here is the tracklist:

 

And yet Sams apparently doesn’t realise that the outmoded rockist bent of her argument neglects the basic fact that “straight out rock and roll” is fucking boring, and the only geeks still clinging to it are the irrelevant old farts pumping their fossilised flatulence through the airwaves of Triple M.

Sams dismisses the likes of Adalita as if her existence alone doesn’t totally contradict the crux of her argument. But if she’s not enough for you, how about Beaches? How about Sydney’s Bloods? How about Rites Wild and Summer Flake? How about Super Wild Horses, whose latest record is so good I could only stop listening to it long enough to write this column?

BLOODS // “BACK TO YOU”

This song is so fucking good.

Did you know there’s an anime called AKB0048 in which the band are interplanetary outlaws who bring music to worlds where entertainment is banned?

Did you know there’s an anime called AKB0048 in which the band are interplanetary outlaws who bring music to worlds where entertainment is banned?

A girl once told me the most intimate thing you can do with another person is eat in front of them. She was wrong. Dancing with someone you know will tell you everything you need to know about them. The way someone dances, and the circumstances around which they do, can tell you everything you were too nervous to ask.

—I wrote about a band called Client Liaison and dancing in dark rooms in front of other people and why the default mode of out-guessing a performance is not always in one’s best interest. 

Bro this is the Velvet Underground + Nico of tweets.

Bro this is the Velvet Underground + Nico of tweets.

Reminder: It’s okay if you don’t give a shit about the records dudes were bumping the first time they went down on a girl in the 90s; you can still listen to “rapping 2 u” and not feel like you’ve missed out on some illusory historical moment in music. But if you like Neutral Milk Hotel then that’s okay too.

Reminder: It’s okay if you don’t give a shit about the records dudes were bumping the first time they went down on a girl in the 90s; you can still listen to “rapping 2 u” and not feel like you’ve missed out on some illusory historical moment in music. But if you like Neutral Milk Hotel then that’s okay too.

Manors

—Tomorrow

lablague:

Hello again. In case you forgot, I’m putting out an album in two weeks. Here is Fit In’s second single. This song is called “Tomorrow” and I’ve tagged it as #sensitive and #sad. If that’s how you’re feeling today or ever, listen to it/download it/share it, and then you can mail me a Ziploc bag full of your tears.

Fit In will be available for full download (all 10 songs with lots of solos and overdubbed harmonies) on May 14. You can also like Manors on Facebook, if that’s your kind of thing.

This album is going to be great.

Important Uffie-related revelations.

Important Uffie-related revelations.

The band simply doesn’t possess the energy or conviction to qualify their songs as mimicries, let alone exculpate their sinful lack of identity— the notion of developing a “Razorlight sound” may not have even crossed their minds yet, and might possibly never.

—Sylvester wasn’t the only one to call out Razorlight for their limp impression of The Strokes but I wonder if he’s seen the Mighty Boosh episode where Razorlight are out in the desert searching for their “new sound.”

Nick Sylvester is as well known for his vicious lack of mercy as he is for his incomparable (literary) style, but this review of Insterstella 5555, which he apparently likes more than anything else Daft Punk have ever done, really nails it. Most of what I’ve read (and loved) of Sylvester’s has been overwhelmingly negative (his review of Daft Club is a vitriolic masterpiece) but I think his criticism is better - if a degree less entertaining - when he’s writing on stuff he actually likes. Actually I think that’s true of most critics, maybe to the point of obviousness, although the popular adage is that it’s easier to write a review of something one hates. One of Greil Marcus’s contentions in the introduction to Psychotic Reactions & Carburetor Dung (and also one of several contentions I believe prove that Marcus didn’t even read the fucking book he put together) is that Lester Bangs always wrote better when he hated something and bordered on useless when he really loved something. This is as untrue of Bangs as it is every good critic.

As an aside, the folks who cry foul whenever Pitchfork (which they imagine to be a single-minded entity) changes its mind about a band must be having an furious orgy over the Random Access Memories hype. Daft Punk have averaged a totally underwhelming score since Schreiber reviewed Discovery back in 2001.

I dunno why it seems suddenly trendy to conceptualize “punk” in 2013 as if it resembled the Maximum Rock N Roll letters page in ‘94; today’s punks are heterogenous and frequently musically omnivorous and doing rad joyful stuff all over. When you see writing like this you wonder how deeply engaged these writers are with the diverse universe of punk kids today.

I look like I’m having fun but it’s not actually fun

I don’t really want you to save me

IS THIS ACTUALLY A SECRET MESSAGE ABOUT STOCKHOLM SYNDROME IN J-POP?

(Source: pamyurin-no-tsuiitaa)