Remembrance of Things PastI recently upgraded the following Siffblog entries, all from 2005-2006. The point was to jazz things up with new—or better quality— images, cleaner formatting ("Symmetry! symmetry!"), links, and the like. So, if you missed any of them the first time around...***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****The Beat That My Heart Skipped (dir: Jacques Audiard; with Romain Duris), The Bridesmaid (Claude Chabrol; Benoît Magimel, above), A Chat With Robinson Devor (five-part interview), Festival (Murray Lerner; Bob Dylan, etc.), Free Zone (Amos Gitai), Histoire(s) du Cinéma (Godard), Kryzstof Kieslowski Short Films, Max

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Here Comes the SunLavender Diamond, Imagine Our Love, M a t a d o r [5/8/07] Earth is the most beautiful planet so don't forget to laugh at the sunsets.-- Becky Stark, 12/23/06 Possessing a rare five-octave vocal range, she displayedthe ability to imitate instrumentation and even birds.-- Wikipedia entry on Minnie Riperton Based on last year's Cavalry of Light EP, I was looking forward to the full-length debut from this Los Angeles quartet. They haven't let me down. On the contrary, they've surpassed my expectations. My only complaint is that ecstatic nursery rhyme "You Broke My Heart," which dates from 2005, doesn't appear on Imagine Our Love, but th

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Good VibrationsThe Oh Sees, Sucks Blood, Castle FaceThis music, these people...offer nothing but proof that songs...and sound for that matter...can play us as instruments.--Dave Sitek, TV on the Radio ***** ***** ***** *****Although Sitek didn't produce the fifth CD from the Oh Sees(formerly Orange County Sound or Orinoka Crash Suite—takeyour pick), he was behind the boards for last year's The Cool Death of Island Raiders. His band has also toured with them.They don't sound much like TV on the Radio, but I cansee why he likes them. I do, too, which is surprising, be-cause John Dwyer (vocals, guitar) hails from the Coach-whips, and that Bay Area band n

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Looking Back at Keren AnnIn my post about Keren Ann's upcoming record, I referenced Tablet, so here are the CD reviews in question. Both are from 2005, Tablet's final year.Keren Ann, Nolita, Metro Blue/Blue Note (B+)One year after her stunning English-language debut, Not Going Anywhere, French singer/songwriter Keren Ann returns with a quieter, more intimate affair. Recorded in Paris and New York—"Nolita" is North of Little Italy—the lyrics are in French and English. Keren Ann’s approach is, as ever, subtle and sophisticated, but never stuffy. Once upon a time, Nick Drake traveled to France to record with François Hardy, to whom Keren Ann has often be

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Three Is (Not)the Magic NumberThe Locust, New Erections, Anti-C'mon stiffs, we must demolish and level together...in the dead of everything...in the cold-sweat of the night, heat of the freon freedom fight, New Erections is exactly what we wanted. -- The Locust press statement*****If a band's gonna name their record New Erections, they must not want me to like it. Okay, I'm only half joking. I felt the same way about Smog's Dongs of Sevotion, but it won me over anyway.Phallic allusions aside, thetwo acts have little in common, but I'd opt for Bill Callahan's soft-spoken folk-pop over the Locust's "sci-fi-art-noise-spazz-core" anyday.I gave the Locust'

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April is the Cruelest MonthThese are the reviewsand other assignmentsI'm working on this month.Amazon DVDs: Siouxsie - Dreamshow: Live at the Royal Festival Hall With the Millenia Ensemble (bring on the black eyeliner...and the dancing horses!), Full House - The Complete Sixth Season [four-disc set] (click here for my reviews of the first five seasons), The 4400 - The Third Season [four-disc set] (click here for one and two), Melrose Place - The Second Season [eight-disc set] (click here for one), Pink - Live from Wembley Arena (click here for Live in Europe), Al Franken - God Spoke (documentary from the makers of The War Room), John and Mary (Peter Y

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The Madcap LaughsGreg Ashley, Painted Garden, Birdman Records"This kid's a star..."--Greg Dulli, the Afghan Whigs (2003) ***** On his second solo album, Greg Ashley (the Mirrors, the Gris Gris) pursues a soothing, psychedelic muse. His follow-up to Medicine Fuck Dream (2003) combines Ashley's gentle voicewith acoustic and electric instruments, including the occasional burst of brass, shake of the tambourine, and toot of the kazoo. Other voices also join in occasion, like Ali Rose, who sings leadon the twisted girl group psych-pop of "Sailing With Bobby."The way I see it, there's good-trip psychedelia and bad-trip psychedelia. As a solo artist, Ashley,

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