Delta Dir. Kornél Mundruczó

[Proton Cinema; 2008]
By

Styles: drama, incest
Others: Johanna, Szép napok

Delta opens with a sunrise over placid waters. The sounds of the river blend with the quiet tremble of a violin. A ship’s horn blasts through the quiet, the noxious noise disrupting the delicacy of water. Next, we watch a young man walk across a farm. Before he opens a wooden door, we hear the whiny screeches of a pig. He opens the door to reveal two men dragging a pig behind a wall. A woman follows the men and stands half-obscured, staring at the young man, the pig’s squealing cutting through her gaze. The pig is butchered.

Haunted House Guess Who’s Not Coming To Dinner

[Self-released; 2009]

By

Rating: 3/5

There’s a lot of talk these days about the “new normal.” It’s a sugar-coated way of referencing America in decline, of underlining a potentially permanent new reality of lowered expectations. Much like the way Great Britain realized the incredible burden of empire, America is slowly beginning to recognize, even somewhat welcome, a new way of living. But if one were to cast their gaze on the aging suburban housing, dilapidated infrastructure, and fading cultural institutions, they would realize America has been in decline for quite some time.

More about: Haunted House

Links: Haunted House - Self-released

Past Lives Tapestry of Webs

[Suicide Squeeze; 2010]

By

Rating: 3.5/5

Styles: post-hardcore
Others: Blood Brothers, Shoplifting, Head Wound City, Neon Blonde

The Blood Brothers were a post-hardcore group, one that flirted with the kind of popularity that groups like Modest Mouse has held down in spades. While most bands recording intricate guitar melodies, vocal histrionics, bombastic bass, and unpredictable drum tempo are dealt this post-hardcore designation, an unwieldy and emotionally unstable execution of these elements almost ensures admission into the camp. Unfettered chaos buckled together with technical prowess was part of the Blood Brothers formula, and they were able to garner a respectable degree of notoriety before breaking up in 2007.

More about: Past Lives

Links: Past Lives - Suicide Squeeze

Brooklyn’s Finest Dir. Antoine Fuqua

[Millenium Films; 2010]
By

Styles: crime
Others: Training Day

While watching a film, I generally scribble notes on whatever scraps of paper happen to be in my pocket at the time; snippets of dialogue, themes, connections, and small details litter various receipts and post-it notes, the lines overlapping each other, my handwriting indecipherable due to writing quickly in the dark.

TMT Cerberus 11 Into That Good Night

Features

By ·

Column Type: 
Field Items
TMT Cerberus
Subtitle: 
Field Items

Into That Good Night

Date: 
Field Items
Mon, 2010-03-01
Images
Field Items
image/jpeg iconcolumn-10-03-cerberus.jpg

In this ever-expanding musical world, there’s a wealth of 7-inches, cassettes, CD-Rs, and objet d’art being released that, due to their limited quantities and adventurous sonics, go unnoticed by the public at large. TMT Cerberus seeks to document the aesthetic of these home recorders and backyard labels. Email us here.

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Harlan: In the Shadow of Jew Süss Dir. Felix Moeller

[Zeitgest Films; 2010]
By

Styles: documentary
Others: Hildegard Knef - The Early Years

While the name Leni Riefenstahl still lives in infamy, even among those not well-versed in film history, Veit Harlan, one of the Third Reich’s most successful and prized filmmakers, remains something of an unknown internationally. In Germany, however, the name Harlan is nearly as recognizable as Goebbels, the man responsible for making Harlan’s most notorious film Jew Süss mandatory viewing for all members of the SS Nazi organization.

September Collective Always Breathing Monster

[Mosz; 2010]

By

Rating: 3/5

Styles: electronic, experimental
Others: Mapstation, Paul Wirkus, Barbara Morgenstern

I can’t get the story straight on this album for the life of me. According to its one-sheet, the Düsseldorf trio known as the September Collective laid the groundwork for Always Breathing Monster by going to their local Protestant church, feeding its hybrid organ with pre-prepared MIDI arrangements files, and then recording the automated “performance” that ensued with a few carefully placed room mics — a report that Boomkat’s product review corroborates.

More about: September Collective

Links: September Collective - Mosz

Wolf People Tidings

[Jagjaguwar; 2010]

By

Rating: 4/5

Styles: British rock, psych rock, experimental
Others: George Harrison, Jimi Hendrix, Starfucker’s use of Alan Watts’ vocal samples

One of my favorite things about tape — be it cassette or reel-to-reel — has always been the way the players seem to suggest faces. The spindles look like eyes, and when they turn, they recall the expressions of crazy cartoon characters.

Maybe that’s just me.

More about: Wolf People

Links: Wolf People - Jagjaguwar

The Art of the Steal Dir. Don Argott

[9.14 Pictures; 2010]
By

Styles: documentary
Others: Rock School, Rembrandt’s J’accuse

The Art of the Steal is not the sort of fast-paced documentary featuring charming witticisms from a Michael Moore-like guide. Instead, the film plays like a whodunit, a mystery devoid of action. Twisting through an intricate narrative of art-world scandal, the film meticulously decodes the motives of a large cast of movers and shakers, artists and students, working towards something that might resemble “truth.”

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