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Meg And Jack Sitting On A Stage Making Music That’s All The Rage WHITE STRIPES $9.99 OR LE SS

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WHITE STRIPES

UNDER GREAT WHITE NORTHERN LIGHTS IN STORE S M ARCH 16 In 2007, The White Stripes headed out on ambitious tour of Canada, intending to hit all provinces and territory, to, as Jack White puts it “from the oceans to the permafrost.” Filmmaker Emmett Malloy came along, to document the trip that marked the tenth anniversary of the White Stripes. The result is UNDER GREAT WHITE NORTHERN LIGHTS, a DVD that includes both on and offstage footage and offers a glimpse into the private, complex world that is White Stripes. Also available as the first ever White Stripes live CD, 16 live songs from various shows in Canada.

Available on CD, LP, DVD, Blu-Ray and a Limited Edition Set that includes it all, plus a book.

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SEVERE SEQUELITIS

Rob Zombie gets his curiously verbose Hellbilly on again by J. Bennett

I

� ’ � � � � � years since Rob Zombie gave White Zombie the finger and took his monster mash solo with Hellbilly Deluxe: Tales of Cadaverous Cavorting Inside the Spookshow International. Since then, he’s resuscitated the Halloween horror-flick franchise as writer/ director/producer of two recent remakes, a process that apparently lent its sequential nature to Zombie’s music.

Enter Hellbilly Deluxe : Noble Jackals, Penny Dreadfuls and the Systematic Dehumanization of Cool, his fourth and latest solo jag down the electro-creep highway.

Could the songs on Hellbilly Deluxe 2 exist under a different title, or is there something that necessarily ties them to the 1998 album?

Well, they could definitely exist under a different title, for sure, but I didn’t actually title it until it was done.

I’ve always had the idea of doing a part two because Hellbilly Deluxe was my first solo record, one of my biggest moments, and you can obviously never have your first solo record again. And as I saw records and CDs disappearing, I thought if it was going to be the last thing I made, I liked that it was almost exactly years from the first [Note: Hellbilly Deluxe was finished in ], so I thought it’d be cool to bookend that period of my life. at was sort of the thought process. But I didn’t wanna just call it that for the fuck of it, so I waited ’til it was done to see if it really captured the spirit of the first one. I thought it did, so that’s when it really solidified.

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What’s the story behind the subtitle, Noble Jackals, Penny Dreadfuls and the Systematic Dehumanization of Cool?

I always like having long titles or subtitles that people can wonder about or not wonder about. I just hate short titles, I guess. [Laughs] But the last half, the “dehumanization of cool� part, that’s a topic that me and the rest of the guys in the band are always talking about—why nothing seems cool anymore in the world of rock. Everything seems corporate and contrived. We’ll sit there and watch old clips of Edgar Winter on YouTube and go, “ is is so cool. What the fuck happened? When did rock music become whiny bullshit played by guys who all have the same haircut?� We’re always bitching and moaning about that.

Your wife is in all your movies and often appears in the artwork for your albums, including Hellbilly Deluxe 2.

Do you consider her your muse?

Yeah, definitely. at’s the way it’s always sort of been.

I like to involve her because I need there to be some sort of personal aspect to everything I do. And by that I mean I always like to have my wife or my friends part of what I do. I always see bands make these videos and they just hire some girl to play the girl in the video, and it’s like, “What does this actually mean to them?�

It doesn’t seem like it has any actual meaning. Maybe it does. But I need everything to be meaningful to me in order to want to do it. I can never just go through the motions.

They came from all over the world.

But you can visit them in Cleveland.

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The Who Greatest Hits

Elvis Costello My Aim Is True

Dusty Springfield The Very Best Of

Marvin Gaye #1's

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JIMI HENDRIX Valleys Of Neptune CD $9.99 LEGACY

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On sale in March. On stage in April.

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THE NEXT RAYS OF AN IMMORTAL LEGACY

A new slate of remasters and DVDs—not to mention an album of unreleased songs and performances—reinforces the timeless appeal of Jimi Hendrix. by Brian Baker

I

 J  H      had survived his September misadventure with red wine and German sleeping pills, “Angel” might have been perceived as one of the guitarist’s more beautiful ballads and little more.

But in the context of his tragic death, there is an odd prescience in the song’s opening lines, among the last music Hendrix ever committed to tape: “Angel came down from heaven yesterday / She stayed with me just long enough to rescue me.” e words can be viewed from a number of perspectives—an angel descends from heaven and retrieves Hendrix, saving him from a world that little understands

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and doesn’t deserve his genius. Or, setting aside the gender pronoun, the angel is Hendrix; he remained barely tethered to this mortal coil just long enough to save music from a desultory path, inspiring generations of guitarists in particular and musicians in general, and impossibly managing to increase his legion of fans years after his death.

It seems surreal that Hendrix was responsible for a mere quartet of albums during his brief professional career—Are You Experienced? and Axis: Bold as Love in , Electric Ladyland in and the live Band of Gypsys just three months before his death in —and even

more surreal to consider the manner in which they still resonate with musicians and fans, a decade deep in the new millennium.

In the wake of his death, the world came to understand what the guitarist’s inner circle already knew—Jimi Hendrix was a prolific studio denizen, slavishly documenting every moment he spent in front of a mic, a bank of speakers and a recording console. By , Hendrix’s catalog had nearly doubled in number, not counting the endless parade of inferior bootlegs that accompanied the legitimate but equally opportunistic releases.

In the mid-’ s, the Hendrix family finally wrestled the legal rights to the guitarist’s unreleased archive away from the industry vampires who had made several fortunes from various permutations of the Hendrix catalog.

Al and Janie Hendrix, Jimi’s father and adopted sister, eventually established Experience Hendrix and licensed the next phase of Hendrix’s recorded legacy to MCA, which resulted in the official and proper CD releases of the trio of Jimi Hendrix Experience albums (the initial Reprise CDs were poorly mastered from vinyl rather than the master tapes), as well as a host of worthwhile projects, including the restoration of the album Hendrix was working on just before his death, First Rays of the New Rising Sun, and several unreleased live and studio recordings (Voodoo Child, Live at Monterey, Live at Woodstock, Voodoo Soup, South Saturn Delta and Blues among them). is month sees perhaps the most significant collection of releases since the resolution of the legal issues surrounding Hendrix’s work. Last year, Janie Hendrix announced that Experience Hendrix would be moving to Sony’s Legacy division, and the initial titles under the new Experience Hendrix/Legacy arrangement are, in a word, exciting.

First up are the three official recordings from the Hendrix catalog, freshly remastered (and including all bonus tracks from the reissues), packaged in six-panel digipaks featuring -page booklets with rare photos and meticulous session/liner notes; First Rays of the New Rising Sun receives the same treatment. Joining the slate of reissues is Smash Hits, the first Hendrix best-of compilation released in . As an added incentive to fans (who have already bought much of this material multiple times), the new remasters are being packaged with a bonus DVD documentary on the creation of

each album (save for Smash Hits). And each album will also be made available in a -gram audiophile vinyl format, complete with gatefold covers and accompanying booklets (again, Smash Hits is not included in this format). And in a straight DVD release, EH/Legacy has assembled Live at Woodstock: e Definitive Collection, a two-DVD set chronicling Hendrix’s appearance at the most famous rock festival of all time, the gig that made him a star.

But perhaps the most anticipated release in Hendrix’s debut with Legacy is Valleys of Neptune, a single disc compendium of newly uncovered studio tracks and never-before-released alternate takes of some classic Hendrix tunes. In the former category, there’s “Lullaby for the Summer,� “Crying Blue Rain,� “Ships Passing rough the Night� and a studio recording of one of Hendrix’s favorite live covers, “Sunshine of Your Love.� e album’s title cut has seen limited release previously in an edited demo form; this set is the debut of the full band version.

Of the classic tracks, Valleys of Neptune features significantly different takes on “Fire,� “Red House,� “Lover Man,� “Stone Free,� “Bleeding Heart� and a track titled “Mr. Bad Luck� on this collection, which Hendrix ultimately retooled into “Look Over Yonder.� Bootleg versions of most, if not all, of these tracks have been floating around for years, but Valleys of Neptune obviously benefits from production by Eddie Kramer (who also mixed, and was the engineer on all of Hendrix’s albums for their original releases) and John McDermott, who have polished but not overproduced these early but still fully formed studio sketches.

In the four short years of his public career, Jimi Hendrix amassed an enormous body of work, even though the end result at the time was a mere four albums.

Hendrix left behind hundreds of hours of tape, much of which has yet to be tracked and cataloged; Valleys of Neptune could well be just the next step in uncovering the full extent of the man’s studio activities. e guitarist who wanted to stand next to our fire in has been maintaining a perpetual flame of his own for over four decades. Long may Jimi Hendrix’s legacy burn brightly.

Valleys of Neptune is available March 9 from Sony Legacy.

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MAGNETIC, RESONANT Charlotte Gainsbourg contemplates life after near-death on the evocative IRM

by Jeanne Fury

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S

ď?Š ď?Ž ď?§ ď?Ľ ď?˛ - ď?Ą ď?Ł ď?´ ď?˛ ď?Ľ ď?ł ď?ł C ď?¨ ď?Ą ď?˛ ď?Ź ď?Ż ď?´ ď?´ ď?Ľ G ď?Ą ď?Š ď?Ž ď?ł ď?˘ ď?Ż ď?ľ ď?˛ ď?§ is known mainly for two reasons: She’s the daughter of celebrated French singer/actor/director Serge Gainsbourg and British singer/actress Jane Birkin; and she’s also garnered critical acclaim for disquieting, emotionally wrenching onscreen performances. Most recently, she won the best actress award at the Cannes Film Festival for Lars von Trier’s Antichrist. Roger Ebert described Gainsbourg’s acting as “heroicâ€? and “fearless.â€? It’s more than a bit odd, then, to hear her refer to herself as a coward in our interview.

14 + RECORD STORE magazine + MARCH 2010

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In , Gainsbourg underwent brain surgery to repair a hemorrhage that should have left her dead or paralyzed. Although the doctors gave her a clean bill of health, she insisted on repeated MRIs, fearful she was at death’s door. Only when she went back to work was she able to reclaim her life. Written with Beck, Gainsbourg’s third album IRM (the French spelling of MRI) is bundle of pulsing rhythms fused with winsome, orchestral pop. ough Gainsbourg’s alarm at her own mortality continues to scare the bejesus out of her, it makes for some damn fine tunes.

Your parents, especially your father, were great provocateurs. Most teenagers go through a rebellious phase, but your parents were such rebels themselves.

Did you have a rebellious period?

[Laughs] I had it very late. Everything I do is never quite in time. I’m a very slow person. I had a very rebellious time in my s. But it’s true that with my parents, I could do whatever I wanted. I was completely free, so I would make up lies to my friends, saying, “Oh, I need to get back before midnight,” and it was completely false. I needed the limits—that’s for sure. I think that’s why I asked to go to boarding school. It’s nice to feel the limits.

What particular ways did you rebel?

Heh heh heh, that’s too intimate. [Laughs]

is, I find, quite rare. I think he did everything so that I felt comfortable, so that I felt no pressure, because I’m quite a nervous person.

The music is very evocative, and there’s a lot of anxiety that comes through.

I just reacted to the rhythms when they were a little chaotic, a little aggressive. e African rhythms—I don’t know why I was quite compelled by those sounds. ere’s just something physical that happens with those kinds of rhythms, and I think it made sense. e whole ambiance of sometimes African rhythms—sometimes something more mechanical was a good reference.

The song “IRM” has the clanging MRI sound and lots of factory noises. Did that ever freak you out? [ e MRI noise] was something I asked Beck to put in the music. It’s a real MRI sound. When you go through an MRI, you have a whole sequence of disturbing beats and sounds, and that’s only a short sample of it. I was the one who asked for those sounds. [Laughs] Since the accident, how has your approach to life been altered? e thing is, when you go through something quite traumatic like that, you do wake up feeling completely different and feeling life will never be the same, et cetera. Everyday life comes back very very quickly, and I

The only reminder I have [of brain surgery]is the little hole on my skull, and now I have the reflex of touching this hole. – C H A R L O T T E G A I N S B O U R G Your character in Antichrist dealt with the death of her child. Was that a cathartic role for you after your accident?

It was very helpful because it meant that I could forget about my own problems about my head. Before starting the film, I was always panicking about my health, something going wrong, having to do MRIs again just to persuade myself that I was okay, so I was always just in a panic about myself, and I couldn’t stand to be focused on myself like that. When I was able to focus on someone else’s character, especially something as hard as that project, it meant that I was free again. It set me free.

How did Beck make you a better artist with IRM? I think we had a very instinctive collaboration. We spent entire days together, but it wasn’t like we were going into heavy, profound discussions or anything. ere was a communication that happened with no effort, which

forgot. I forgot how important it is, how beautiful it is.

You know, you go back to normal life. It’s good to see how banal it could be again. e only reminder I have is the little hole on my skull, and now I have the reflex of touching this hole. So, it is a reminder, but I can’t say that I’m transformed.

Do you find yourself frequently contemplating the afterlife?

I thought I was quite fearless and that I wasn’t that preoccupied with my own death, but when it was nearly there, I did panic and I was so scared that it wasn’t a good surprise. I felt a little bit a coward, and I didn’t like that about myself. What I have understood about myself is that I’m very scared.

I imagine when you’re actually faced with your own death, you have a completely new perspective on it.

Yeah, I wasn’t ready. [Laughs]

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MARCH 2

The Irish Tenors

4Hero & DJ Marky

The Kings of Drum and Bass Altan Altan: 25th Anniversary Celebration Benny Andersson Story of a Heart Anima Enter the Killzone Architect Consume Adapt Create Artist vs. Poet Favorite Fix Athlete Black Swan Atlanta Rhythm Section Atlanta Rhythm Section/ Back Up Against the Wall Avsky Scorn Francesca Battistelli My Paper Heart (Deluxe Edition) Becca Alive Joshua Bell The Red Violin Beneath the Olive Tree Beneath the Olive Tree Caleb Berg Band The Sounds of Freedom Black 47 Bankers and Gangsters Black Water Rising Black Water Rising Blood Cult We Are the Cult of the Plains Bomb the Bass Back to Light Borknagar Universal Dee Dee Bridgewater Eleanora Fagan Brok’n Healing Bless Me Brother Pete I Thank You Father Cano Eternal Decision Chocquibtown Oro Chus & Ceballos Back on Tracks Citizen Cope Rainwater LP Clogs The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walt Easton Corbin Easton Corbin Jamie Cullum The Pursuit

The Very Best of the Irish Tenors Jaguar Love Hologram Jams Lifehouse Smoke & Mirrors Little Boots Hands Loscil Endless Falls Yo Yo Ma Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Marley’s Ghost Ghost Town Mavis Mavis Chilllon Paddock Zephyr: Peyote Songs of the Native Americans Owen Pallett Heartland Peasant Shady Retreat Point of Grace No Changin’ Us Polar Bear Peepers Emma Pollock The Law of Large Numbers Rachel Portman Chocolat P. Jammy vs. King Tubby His Majesty’s Dub Queeni Grateful Live Rogue Wave Permalight They Ruby Suns Fight Softly Michael Sanders Reflections Schafe Choose Faith Blake Shelton Hilbilly Bone N. Sherman Meets H. Andy In a Rub-A-Dub Style Sir. Georg Solti Immortal Beloved Soundtrack Sonoi Sonoi Soundtrack Alice in Wonderland Soundtrack Band of Brothers Soundtrack Songs of the Sarah Silverman Program Soundtrack The Talented Mr. Ripley Rick Springfield Venus in Overdrive/Live in Rockford R. Springfield & J.S. From the Vault

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music

the best of the rest of this month's new releases

Hawkwind Jimi Hendrix

Minneapolis 1989 First Rays of the New Rising Sun Jimi Hendrix Valleys of Neptune Jimi Hendrix Experience Are You Experienced Jimi Hendrix Experience Axis: Bold as Love Jimi Hendrix Experience Electric Ladyland Jimi Hendrix Experience Smash Hits Brian Howe Circus Bar Janis Ian Miracle Row/Janis Ian II Janis Ian Night Rains/Restless Eyes/ Uncle Wonderful Immolation Majesty and Decay Imperial China Phosphenes Imperium Dekadenz Procella Vadens Joan Jett & Blackhearts Greatest Hits JJ JJ No. 3 Katatonia The Great Cold Distance Tommy Keane The Piper’s Apron Kristin Key Where the Cab Takes You Kidz in the Hall Land of Make Believe The Knife With Mt. Sims Tomorrow, in a Year Miles Kurosky The Desert of Shallow Effects Lady Gaga X-posed Ted Leo & Pharmacists The Brutalist Bricks Liars Sisterworld Ludacris Battle of the Sexes F. Lymon & Teenagers Why Do Fools Fall in Love Jeff Majors Sacret Duets Manegarm Nattvasen Milt Matthews Inc. For the People Misery Index Pulling Out the Nails Anais Mitchell Hadestown The Morning Benders Big Echo Mortemia Misere Mortem Jelly Roll Morton Oh Mister Jelly Gordon Mote I Will Wing Motian/Moran/Potter Lost in a Dream Motorhead Burner/Best Of Mr. Lil One Boxset Murder Death Kill F*ck With Us and Find Out My Gold Mask Thousand Voices EP Myrath Desert Call Neck Come Out Fighting Smokie Norful Worship and a Word Daniel O’Donnell Early Memories Of Mice and Men Of Mice and Men Curtis Ohlson Better Than Ever Ortolan Time on a Sting Paramore X-posed Passion Awakening Pavement Quarantine the Past: Greatest Hits Lee Perry Mad Alien Dub Peter, Paul and Mary With Symphony Orchestra Pocket Feat. Menomena Backwards From Ten Pocket Feat. M. Burgess A Force of Nature Iggy Pop Anthology Box: The Stooges and Beyond Postman Pat Special Delivery Service Louis Prima Best Of Prof. Louie & Crowmatix Whispering Pines Putumayo Kids Presents Jazz Playground Redman Reggie Noble 9 ½ Refined by Fire From Captivity to the Cross Marty Robbins Have I Told You Lately That I Love You Linda Ronstadt Simple Dreams Rudy Rotta Blue Inside Rotting Christ Aealo Josh Rouse El Turista Sanctus Real Pieces of a Real Heart Michael Schenker Group Live & Loud Alan Schiller Piano Moods and Seasons Micah Schnabel When the Stage Lights Go Dim Mark Selby Live at Rockpalast: One Night in Bonn

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« in stores MARCH 9

Ludacris

Battle of the Sexes

Not to be confused with the San Francisco black metal envelope-pushers, whose newest, The Tenant, is their best yet.

Sem’bro

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MARCH 16 16 16 Aiden Meredith Andrews Apostle of Solitude Armored Saint The Audition Dallyn Vail Bayles Lou Bond The Boys of the Isle

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MARCH 23 The 13th Floor Elevators The Complete Singles Collection Abscess Dawn of Inhumanity Absolute Ensemble Absolute Zawinul Airscape Now & Then Mose Allison The Way of the World Alter Bridge Live From Amsterdam S.A. Andree There’s a Fault Ara Ara Autechre Oversteps Ball Greezy 305 Barren Earth The Curse of the Red River Dame Shirley Bassey Performance Chuck Berry Have Mercy: His Complete Chess Recordings 19691974 Big Jeff Bess Tennessee Home Brew Bettie Serveert Pharmacy of Love Justin Bieber My World 2.0 The Bird and the Bee Interpreting the Masters Vol. 1

Debbie Friedman Gallhammer Lula Galvao Gaudi Goldfrapp Gorgoroth Hana B Tom Harrell Alex Harvey Hi Power Presents High Places Holland Dave Holland Octet John Lee Hooker Jr. Hooves Not Hands The Impressions Iyasa J21 B.J.’s Superior Band

As You Go Your Way Gloomy Lights Bossa of My Land No Prisoners Head First Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam Ruin’s Hotel Roman Nights Presents… the Loch Ness Monster Neighborhood Music Box Set High Places vs. Mankind I Blow Up Pathways Live in Istanbul Swollen Complete A&B Sides African Homeland Yellow Mind – Blue Mind New Orleans 1942

« in stores MARCH 16

Ludicra, The Tenant

Not to be confused with the sexed-up novelty rapper, whose newest, Battle of the Sexes, offers more of the amusing same.

Bluesmasters/M. Thomas Bluesmasters Featuring Mickey Thomas Joe Bonamassa Black Rock Graham Bonnet The Day I Went Mad Bonobo Black Sands Bright Eyes & N. Dinova One Jug of Wine, Two Vessels Archie Bronson Outfit Coconut Brotha Lynch Hung Dinner and a Movie H. Budd & Clive Wright Little Windows Can Unlimited Edition Ben Cantelon Running After You Chanela Flamenco Latino Nat King Cole & His Trio Rare Radio Tranascriptions Ken Colyer’s Jazzmen Somewhere Over the Rainbow Ron Contour & Factor Saffron The Courteeners Falcon David Davidson Beautiful Strings Dbridge & Instra-Mental Fabriclive 50 Dead Meadow Three Kings (CD/DVD) Decemberadio Live Paul Dianno The Living dead Dillinger Escape Plan Option Paralysis Disturbed The Sickness 10th Anniversary Edition DJ Clay Let ‘Em Bleed DJ Virtual Vault In Trance We Trust 15 DMX Mixtape Fats Domino Essential Hits & Early Recordings Jimmy Donley The Shape You Left Me In Double Dagger Masks EP The Dreamers – John Zorn IPOS: The Book of Angels VOl. 14 Drink Up Buttercup Born and Thrown on a Hook Dunkelbunt Morgenlandfahrt Jimmy Edwards Love Bug Crawl Jack Elliott At Lansdowne Studios, London F. Gerard Errante Delicate Balance Lita Ford In Concert

H. Jones/T. Flanagan Khia Kingston Trio Sonya Kitchell Christine Kittrell

Live in Marciac 1993 Missed Essential Early Recordings Convict of Conviction Call Her Name (The Complete Recordings) Kleenex/Liliput Live Recordings, TV Clips & ROadmovie Let’s Wrestle In the Court of the Wrestling Smiley Lewis Rocks G. Lewis & Alton Parnell George Lewis & Alton Parnell Librarians Present Passed Lil Boosie Gone Til December Lil C Throweder Than Throwed 2K10 Lil Keke Still Standing Lil Tweety What Chicano Rap Made Me Love Is All Two Thousand and Ten Injuries Luminate Luminate C. Luter W/ H. Lyttelton In England J.E. Mainer Classic Sides 1937-41 The Marcians Traditional Greek Music Marco Polo & Ruste Juxx The eXXecution The Martins Live in His/A Cappella Mercury Rev Complete Peel Sessions Kelly Minter Introducing Kelly Minter Monica Still Standing Mux Mool Skulltaste Necrophobic Death to All Nominon Monumentomb Pet Shop Boys Pandemonium Live Plies Poema Keith Poulos Elvis Presley Queens Club Radar Brothers Rat Attack

Goon Affiliated Sing It Now Dreams in Waking On Stage (Legacy Edition) Young Giant The Illustrated Garden Round & Round: Greatest

Hits Eric Reed & Cyrus Chestnut Plenty Swing, Plenty Soul Rey Fresco People The Right Ons Look Inside, Now Roadside Graves You Won’t Be Happy With Me EP Jamie Saft Soundtracks Saliva Moving Forward In Saor Patrol The Stomp School Gyrls School Gyrls Scorpions Sting in the Tail Seasons After Through Tomorrow Robbie Seay Band Miracle Serena-Maneesh No. 2: Abyss in B Minor She and Him Volume Two Shemy Look at What I Came From Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars Rise & Shine Talvin Singh Ok Six Gallery Breakthroughs in Modern Art Skeletons Smile Sleeping With Sirens With Ears to See and Eyes to Hear Snoop Dogg More Malice Social Code Rock ‘N’ Roll Soundtrack Greenberg Soundtrack Sesame Street: Old School Volume 1 Jeff Sparks Love.Life.Soul Spirits Burning and Thom the World Poet Golden Age Orchestra Summertown Road Summertown Road Tahiti Boy & The Palmtree Family Good Children Go to Heaven TQ Kind of Blue Merle Travis Hot Pickin’ Trick Daddy Lost Sessions Triptykon Eparistera Daimones Twinkranes Spektrumtheatresnakes The Unthanks Here’s the Tender Coming Various Artists A Girl Named Johnny Cash Various Artists Acoustic Playslist: Bold Various Artists Blues Bureau’s Rowdy Roadhouse Blues Various Artists Hot Tub Time Machine Various Artists Italy & Songs: Jealous Attitude Various Artists Italy & Style: Stylish Attitude Various Artists Now 33 Various Artists Now That’s What I Call Faith Various Artists Platinum Hair Metal Hits Various Artists Ragga Ragga Ragga 20 Various Artists Rock Bios: Led Zeppelin Various Artists Rock Bios: ZZ Top Various Artists Samba! Samba!

Various Artists Soul Music: The First Generation Various Artists The Very Things You Treasure Warrant Born Again The Weakerthans Live at the Burton Cummings Theatre The Who Live Greatest Hits The Wiggles Hot Poppin’ Popcorn Hank Williams Jr. Family Tradition Hank Williams Jr. Habits Old and New Hank Williams Jr. The Pressure Is On Hank Williams Jr. Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound Jim Wilson Leader of the Band Ashley Windham Hand Picked Woodhands Remorsecapade Yo Gotti Live From the Kitchen Yukon Blonde Yukon Blonde Zum Tango Argentino

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music reviews

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Running Rabbit

The watership is always down on Frightened Rabbit’s latest confessional

S

Water (drowning, floods) is a prominent elkirk, Scotland’s Frightened presence on Winter. The second track—and R a b b i t make emo for people who’ve lead single—“Swim Until You Can’t See outgrown it. On the band’s excellent Land” is a shuffling, infectious ballad that renew album The Winter of Mixed Drinks, frontvolves around that incessantly repeated title man Scott Hutchison howls and moans the sentiment. Being out too deep is obviously sort of melodramatic, tortured sentiments 8 a fruitful emotional metaphor for Hutchison we all wish we’d managed to leave behind Frightened (either that, or he’s seen Gattaca one too in our teenage bedrooms. Fortunately, there Rabbit many times). The refrain pops up again in is also something ecstatic about Frightened The Winter of “Man/Bag of Sand,” a haunting little reprise Rabbit’s music—euphoric even. On Winter, Mixed Drinks track. “Nothing Like You,” the second single, dissonant noise elements pair seamlessly might mine familiar breakup song territory, with handclaps and singsong harmonies, but it draws a smile with breakneck pacing and perfectly resulting in the band’s most dynamic record to date.

“Skip the Youth,” the album’s centerpiece, opens played hyperbole.

And no track captures the band’s signature blend of with almost two minutes of gradually building noise. lyrical pain and musical thrills quite like “The Loneliness Eventually, the din cuts out, and Hutchison sings, “I’ve and the Scream.” Featuring percussive handclaps, a been digging a hole tonight / on my knees beneath lush, explosive final act and plenty of existential malaise the moon / all I need is place to lie / guess a grave will from Hutchinson, the song is a reminder that feelings have to do.” It’s a bit dramatic, yes, but over a suddenly of pain, inadequacy and heartache might be a bit myodelicate arrangement, he delivers it with the perfect balpic, but they are also powerful, and in the right hands, ance of angst and ennui. cathartic. —Lee Stabert

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Sam Amidon 7 I See the Sign Bedroom Community

And it’ll open your mind Sam Amidon’s fourth album is mostly comprised of traditional folk and children’s songs that are reworked with his signature experimental twist. A member of New York-based indie bands Doveman (with Thomas Bartlett) and Stars Like Fleas, Amidon enlisted fellow multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily (Rage Against the Machine, Tom Waits) and Nico Muhly, as well as celebrated singer-songwriter Beth Orton, to contribute to the patchwork quilt that is I See the Sign.

There’s an old-time, weathered feel to these songs, yet they each hold distinctive, animated quirks. On tracks such as “How Come That Blood” and “Pretty Fair Damsel,” graceful fiddles, plinking keys, barely strummed steel strings and shuffling percussion gently churn beneath Amidon’s slightly off-key sing-speak.

Imagine all the imperfect trinkets in an antique shop coming to life and having a jam session after dark. But it’s the sense of compassion and simplicity in Amidon’s musical interpretations that hold the most charm. Even when relating human burdens (“Climbing Mountains,” “Rain and Snow”), Amidon makes sure his voice and instruments are as unobtrusive as possible. A cover of R. Kelly’s “Relief” features delicate banjo plucking and playful orchestral snippets to hone in on the song’s sweetness. Amidon treads lightly, but has no trouble leaving his mark. —Jeanne Fury

Andrew W.K. 6 Close Calls With Brick Walls/ Mother of Mankind Steev Mike

He ain’t got nothing to lose “No, I don’t care about school anymore / And I really don’t care about rules,” Andrew W.K. utters through the din on “Coming Bad,” in the middle of the second disc of his new twofer. “I really don’t care about cool anymore / And I really don’t care about you.” What W.K. cares about is grandeur—always has. In the beginning, that took the form of I Get Wet’s wall-of-Casio punk readymades: instant, blindingly obvious anthems like “Party Hard” and “Party ’Til You Puke.” Then he bricked it with 2003’s nigh-unlistenable The Wolf, and though his activity remained vigorous (of course), his profile in America sank. So combining 2006’s Japan-only Close Calls With Brick Walls with a new rarities compilation, Mother of Mankind, is a bid for reemergence as something other

than an early ’00s relic.

Close Calls is where W.K. throws himself into completely into his role as his generation’s Jim Steinman/ Meat Loaf combo platter, piling on the affirmative lyrics (“This is the mountain I must climb / This is my time!”), methed-up Roy Bittan piano furbelows and bitchin’ guitar licks in bite-sized chunks. As usual, it’s good-humored, skillful and ultimately wearying. Which is odd, because while Close Calls was put together as an actual album, it coheres less well—and is less listenable as a whole—than Mother of Mankind, which is also the longer disc. This has less to do with pacing or intent and more with the fact that W.K.’s a singles artist at heart—songs like “Let’s Go on a Date” (“To a nightclub, to a restaurant, to the movies / And then to your place, and maybe first base, maybe second base”) and “I’m a Vagabond” (“You can’t put your finger on me”) sound like exhumed classic rock singles, and whatever the artist’s claims to the contrary, that stuff’s always cool.

—Michaelangelo Matos

Broken Bells 6 Broken Bells Sony

It’s broken, fix it James Mercer was saddled early on with the idea that his band, the Shins, could write music to change your life. Even if that meme died by their third record, it’s not surprising that he’d look to alter his landscape.

So, a decision to collaborate with Brian Burton, a.k.a.

Danger Mouse, a.k.a. the most white-approved black musician since Andre 3000, is also not that surprising.

As Broken Bells, the duo’s disparate influences have created something different. But this is more of a palatecleansing than a new direction.

With his track record, Burton’s expertise seems to lie in knee-jerk pop or as a hired hand. The off-the-top-oftheir-heads style of Gnarls Barkley worked, and producing Beck and the Black Keys has been successful. But a serious collaboration with a deliberate songwriter is not nearly as fun. There are moments of inspired synergy (“Citizen” is all hook with tasty dashes of glitch, “Mongrel Heart” an electro-Morricone score perfectly framing Mercer’s vocal harmonies), but the great sounds Burton creates often bury whatever great song could exist. Mercer doesn’t fight against this dead-end experimentalism, and songs frequently just lay there, like a corpse wrapped in Christmas lights.

Mercer may have thought he needed a more modern way to present his music. This is how musicians always trip themselves—when they forget that an acoustic gui-

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music reviews

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tar is more important than a roomful of the latest equipment. But maybe Broken Bells is Mercer’s life-changer, a bland record that will inspire the next chapter of his real band. —Shane Mehling

Death Row 6 Alive in Death Black Widow

First daze right here Anyone with a taste for vintage Sabbathian riff-mongering is probably well aware of Pentagram, the criminally talented doom outfit launched fitfully in 1971 by vocalist and notorious DC power-junkie Bobby Liebling.

A decade later, Liebling joined Death Row, a band that just happened to include two of his former Pentagram bandmates—drummer Joe Hasselvander and bassist Martin Swaney—alongside 19-year-old guitarist Victor Griffin. Death Row eventually morphed into Pentagram, surprise, surprise, but not before they spent a coupla years gigging and recording as Death Row. This new double-disc set corrals a handful of obscure rehearsal, demo and live recordings from that era, the period that yielded Pentagram’s 1985 debut, Relentless.

In the seemingly endless pantheon of semi-crappy former bootlegs, Alive in Death’s first disc, comprised almost entirely of a single show from 1983, is about as good as it gets. Which is to say that it transcends novelty, merits repeat listens and sounds like a show you’d actually wanna go to. On paper, the second disc looks even better: Death Row’s first jam from ’81 (complete with three Sabbath covers), followed by a three-song demo from ’83. But it’s largely disposable.

Liebling barely opens his mouth during the jam, and the recording is beyond muffled. All told, Alive in Death is for fans only, and disc two may not even satisfy that qualification. —J. Bennett

The Dillinger Escape Plan 7 Option Paralysis Seasons of Mist

We’d pick a favorite track, but can’t be bothered to choose The Dillinger Escape Plan’s postCalculating Infinity output has proven divisive, splitting fans of their hyper-technical 1999 full-length into two camps: those excited by the band’s newly expanded sonic palette and others who wish they’d stop dicking around. DEP take special care to demonstrate their range and utilize as many tools at their disposal as possible, as evidenced in faithful covers ranging from Justin Timberlake to Aphex Twin

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and their completely schizo last record, Ire Works. Their most daunting challenges have been how to integrate these disparate interests cohesively, and, given the range of their proclivities, option paralysis seems a likely result.

Option Paralysis could have easily silenced the naysayers in their second camp, but the band has made a virtue of making things difficult for themselves. Tracks like opener “Farewell, Mona Lisa” and “I Wouldn’t if You Didn’t” offer plenty of red meat for that base, but the drastic changes in course that color the second halves of each song prove the band’s commitment to their own constant reinvention. The most accessible moments of Option Paralysis mirror another band that tackled their own Dr. Jekylls and Mr. Hydes with varying success: Faith No More. Like Mike Patton, Dillinger singer Greg Puciato’s voice traverses a number of different topographic regions. Save for the album’s sprawling, half-ballad centerpiece, “Widower” (which features pianist Mike Garson), Option Paralysis also streamlines the scatterbrained tendencies of its predecessor, delivering the most straightforward metal record of the band’s catalog. —Matt Sullivan

Goldfrapp 7 Head First Mute

Roots bloody roots Two years ago, Goldfrapp, the English electro-pop duo of Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory, decided not to be quite so electro-pop. Seventh Tree was their quasi-folk album, emphasis on “quasi”: Pete Seeger acolytes did not rush to embrace the thing, and neither did fans of acoustic ululators such as Devendra Banhart. Seventh Tree wasn’t a failure, exactly, but it did surprise people, and not always in a good way. So Head First’s return to proudly synthetic sound sources, driving beats, loud low end and choruses begging to be remixed is welcome—even, when things really hum, a triumph.

For all their moxie and skill, Goldfrapp have always been quintessentially English, in this case meaning slightly boring. But Head First is their most immediate album, and it sinks in even deeper with time. “Rocket” is the statement of purpose: “I’ve got a rocket (whoa-ohoh) / You’re going on it (whoa-oh-oh) / You’re never coming back,” Goldfrapp croons as Gregory’s glassy, fizzy programming bounces like a beach ball. “Believer” is even more brazenly plastic, from the eighth-note keyboard-bass line to the airy filtering of the chorus (“I’m a believer in you naaaahhhhh”). “Alive” and “Head

First” are straighter pop: driving pianos from the Elton John school, widescreen production à la ABBA (particularly in the latter, which resembles the Swedes’ more pensive moments), and metronomic grooves decorated by woozy synthesizers. “I am on the other side of the world,” Goldfrapp sings on the latter, but Head First should have little trouble convincing Americans they’ve been missing out. —Michaelangelo Matos

The Knife 4 Tomorrow, in a Year Mute

Monkey business Ever wonder what two amoebas having sex sounds like? What about the sound of bacteria fighting to become the dominant strain? These are the types of challenges that faced Swedish electronic duo the Knife when Danish theatre experimentalists Hotel Pro Forma chose them to score an opera about Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of the Species. If you were among the many Knife fans looking forward to the follow-up to 2006’s exceptional electro-pop offering Silent Shout, brace yourselves—this is not it.

Imagine 90 minutes of the Discovery Channel’s Planet Earth series as rendered by a glitch-fixated composer.

The Knife (siblings Karin Dreijer Andersson and Olof Dreijer), in collaboration with Mt. Sims and Planningtorock, present their conceptual soundscape in songs with titles like “Geology,” “Variation of Birds” and “Schoal Swarm Explorer.” Parts of it are hypnotic— rusty sonar echoes, repetitive percussion pierced with lasers and the vocals of a mezzo soprano juxtaposed with what sounds like animals in the jungle (which might actually be the real things—a portion of the music was made of electronically produced nature sounds and field recordings captured by Dreijer in the rainforests of Northern Brazil). It takes discipline to get through this album, and like Darwin’s theory proved, only the strong survive. —Jeanne Fury

Liars 8 Sisterworld Mute

You wouldn’t invite Liars to a poker game Given their wildly unpredictable but consistently excellent catalog, curiosity abounded as to what direction Liars would take on Sisterworld. Their debut was released at the ground level of the post-punk revival that exploded early this century, but instead of positioning themselves to

capitalize on that trend, they released the underrated noisescape They Were Wrong, So We Drowned. Their next album, Drums Not Dead, convinced people to look at the band in a different light, and the self-titled effort that followed served as something of a final chapter to a plot whose outline was privy only to the band, connecting all the dots that before seemed far-flung. Now that the band had seemingly shown their hand, the question was whether Sisterworld would reshuffle the deck.

Perhaps the result of recording with producer and composer Tom Biller (a frequent Jon Brion collaborator), Sisterworld’s arrangements are some of Liars’ most intricate, with counter-melodic guitar lines crisscrossing one another, heaps of vocal harmonies and strings figuring prominently in a number of the songs.

Aesthetically, this album isn’t a huge departure from the last one, but there is a greater emphasis on dynamics this time around. Couple some self-referential numbers with more droning/ethereal pieces like “Drip,” and we find the band honing their craft rather than adopting an entirely new one. They didn’t reshuffle the deck, but they did cut the cards. —Matt Sullivan

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists 8 The Brutalist Bricks Matador

Bricks are still heavy Medium has always been slightly more important than message with Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. Prominent hooks and lush melodies (“Me and Mia” from Shake the Streets, “I’m a Ghost” from Hearts of Oak) are the tentpoles of the band’s discography. Maybe that’s why the Marxist callto-arms (“Well, we’ve all got a job to do / and we all hate God”) on “Woke Up Near Chelsea” is such a shock.

Up until now, Leo’s attempts at translating classic punk rock sounds have yielder softer, supple results.

What he hears as Crass comes out sounding like the Jam—that kind of thing. As with 2007’s Living With the Living, Leo flirts with angry and angular (“The Stick”), while continuing to paint expressive portraits from an ever-widening sonic palette. Elements of rocksteady/ ska (“One Polaroid a Day”) and doo-wop (“Even Heroes Have to Die”) are filtered into jangly pop songs while Leo and his crack team—led by returning guitarist James Canty—make it all sound effortless. Especially on the album’s fantastic anthem “Last Days,” the closest Leo has come yet to writing his own “Dancing in the Dark.”

Meet the new boss, ready to go toe-to-toe with the Boss.

—Nick Green

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new tunes in stores this month

Much To-Do About Something With a new deal and a new album, the Drive-By Truckers ride out the recession by lee stabert

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his recession has provided many tales of triumph in the face of adversity—the small business made good; the lost job that leads to a lucrative book deal; the family that, through sacrifice and flexibility, grows even closer. It would be tempting to put the Drive-By Truckers in that category.

As our economy swooned, they signed an exciting new deal with RCA subsidiary ATO and recorded The Big To-Do, an endlessly engaging album that feels pitchperfect for the times—bleak subject matter paired with invigorating rock ’n’ roll hooks and just enough wily intelligence.

We all came to terms with the fact that we weren’t gonna be rock stars—that we weren’t gonna be successful at what we do— and we decided to continue doing it anyway. – pat t e r s o n h o o d Yes, it would be tempting to write that story. But it would also be a bit of a lie.

The Truckers aren’t a recession story.

What they do, and how they’ve managed to gradually build their success over the years is difficult to wrangle into such an easily digestible box. Theirs is a complex tale of fits, starts, troubled times, quixotic projects, tireless touring and eight (count ’em, eight) full-length studio albums that began long before these troubled times.

Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley, the dual hearts of DBT, have been playing music together for 25 years. They started off in Muscle Shoals, AL, before putting down roots in Athens, GA. After two self-released records, the band recorded Southern Rock Opera, a concept album that drew inspiration from the story of Lynyrd Skynyrd, but was really about growing up in the South listening to rock music and all the messy ideological complications that ensue. The ambitious project garnered a fair bit of press, and generated some serious record label drama. (It was eventually reissued by Lost Highway.) For better or worse, Southern Rock Opera dominated the band’s narrative for the next few years.

They were cast as Southern revivalists, not clever interpreters. For a while it seemed the Drive-By Truckers might be swallowed by the very mythology they had been trying to explode.

But then came Decoration Day—a revelatory record packed with wistful, indelible songs of personal woe and impossible situations. For those willing to listen, the album announced the band as something significantly more complex than Southern rock redux.

Over the course of their next three albums, the Truckers’ profile continued to rise, while behind-the-scenes drama led to big changes. After three albums and more than five years, third vocalist and songwriter Jason Isbell left the band. Isbell’s departure cleared the way for bassist Shonna Tucker (Isbell’s ex-wife—told you there was drama) to contribute songs to 2008’s wonderful, sprawling Brighter Than Creation’s Dark, the band’s last

album on longtime home New West Records.

Put simply, this band has been through a lot. So, when asked how they were weathering the double whammy of national recession and music industry implosion, frontman Hood had a contemplative take. “We grew up in a part of the country, North Alabama, that’s been in a depression for years,” he explains. “The Coke plant closed the year I graduated from high school, and that community still hasn’t recovered. The ’90s, which were boom times for so much of the country, was still a depression time where I’m from. Honestly, last year when the bubble burst and the stock market went crazy, none of that was very surprising.”

The Truckers have always been experts at capturing the slow burn of economic anxiety—but their ruminations feel a bit more topical these days. If there’s a single track on The Big To-Do that embodies that angst while still being ridiculously fun, it’s “This Fucking Job.” The song explores some familiar DBT themes: dead-end work, the desire for something more and the fear that, “I won’t get as far as my daddy made it.” The song also has an undeniable groove. It’s snappy and infectious—the perfect tune for that blissful moment when the workday is over and you can let your brain go slack.

This isn’t the first time Hood has written a song starring a man cuffed to a life he doesn’t want—there was “Putting People on the Moon”’s family man turned criminal and “Buttholeville”’s small-town waiter. “I write a lot of songs and I tend to revisit things,” he remarks.

“I joke that I’ve written the same songs over and over, over a 20-year period. Every four or five years I’ll rewrite a song and it will be different each time.”

It’s easy to understand why Hood is so fascinated by miserable jobs and broken dreams—it’s a life he says he was all but certain to live. “I’m just lucky right now,” he shrugs. “I’m still scared to death that it will end tomorrow. I waited tables for many, many years, and there was a point in time when we all came to terms with the fact that we weren’t gonna be rock stars—that we weren’t gonna be successful at what we do—and we decided to continue doing it anyway.”

And now here they are: making a living playing music.

The deal with ATO is yet another step in their steady uphill trajectory—gradually selling more records, playing bigger rooms and getting attention from an increasing number of fans and critics outside the Southeast. []

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fter completing their deal with New West, the Truckers were set to self-release their next album.

They had grown frustrated with the disproportionate relationship between responsibility and reward that came with a record deal. “Anyone who wanted to talk to us about signing with them had to prove to us they could do something better than what we could do on our own,” explains Hood. “We also needed complete freedom. ATO just kept coming back to the table.”

That freedom was put to the test almost immediately.

On the heels of the 17-track Brighter Than Creation’s Dark, the band wanted to make a more concise album. That’s not such an easy feat when you have three songwriters.

They ended up recording over 30 songs, many of which will appear on an upcoming album that is already near completion. “It’s pretty much the polar opposite of this one,” says Hood. “It’s dark and spooky and murky and weird. It’s definitely the more bipolar side of our band.”

ATO rolled with the punches. “Nothing turns out the way it’s planned with this band,” says Hood. “When we’re working on a record, it becomes what the songs dictate, and ATO was extremely understanding. They seemed to have a genuine trust that we know what we’re doing, even if it might be a little different from the way it’s done. It’s obviously worked for us, because we’ve been out here surviving and doing it for a long time.”

DBT albums do tend to fall into two general categories. Some are rife with personal heartache and melancholy (the phenomenal Decoration Day being the apex), while others revolve around a set of story-songs detailing the desperate situations of a gaggle of lost souls. The Big To-Do falls into the latter category. Over the course of 13 tracks, Hood, Cooley and Tucker introduce us to a young child who has recently lost a father (a song that feels like a companion piece to Brighter’s haunting leadoff track “Two Daughters and Beautiful Wife”), a desperate drunk in a downward spiral, an exhausted prostitute, a woman driven to kill her preacher husband and a family of circus performers, among others.

The strength of the Truckers’ songs lie in the fact that those stories never feel belabored. They are rock songs first and foremost, and only get better as you unravel the plot lines. “This Fucking Job” drips with guitardriven swagger and “The Fourth Night of My Drinking” barrels forward with irresistible melodic momentum.

Cooley’s soaring guitar work sets the stage on “Drag the Lake Charlie,” and he indulges in a bit of honky tonk verve on “Get Downtown.” With an assist from John Neff’s mournful pedal steel, “Santa Fe” is one of the prettiest ballads the band has ever recorded—and it’s a great showcase for Hood’s casually emotional vocals. Meanwhile, Tucker’s “(It’s Gonna Be)/I Told You So” features a surprising little vintage shuffle. “I

Nothing turns out the way it’s planned with this band.

– pat t e r s o n h o o d

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think ‘I Told You So’ sounds like it could be a Buddy Holly cover,” says Hood. “It’s the highest compliment I could ever imagine giving a song because it sounds that simple, and yet it’s kinda profound.”

“This Fucking Job” isn’t the only song on the album boasting notable lineage within the band’s catalog. It’s hard not to hear the wry disappointment of “After the Scene Dies” without thinking of Brighter’s “The Opening Act” or even Southern Rock Opera. They all speak to the tenuous nature of being in a band, and the disappointments and heartaches that come along with it—one of which is watching communities crumble. Anyone who’s ever lingered in a local rock scene for more than a few years can relate to the narrative Hood spins: “The graffiti on the back stage wall gets painted over in muted shade / The club becomes an Old Navy / After the scene dies / When the last six-string slinger has to bow down for health insurance / and accept the mundane.”

“I had never lived in a town that had a scene before I moved to Athens,” notes Hood. “It had such a huge impact on me. I feel like in the last few years some people have started taking it for granted around here.

The college kids get jaded and forget to support the local music scene as much as they need to, and people get older, and all of a sudden the clubs aren’t doing as well as they have been. I’d already written the song, and it became timelier as we recorded it.”

There are a host of timely tales on The Big To-Do. “That Wig He Made Her Wear” tackles a small town scandal— complete with a member of the clergy hiding a nefarious sex life. Meanwhile, Cooley’s “Get Downtown” details a domestic dispute over unemployment.

If 2010 provides the ideal atmosphere to appreciate this band, then the timing is spot-on for The Secret to a Happy Ending, a new documentary from director Barr Weissman. In 2003, Weissman went to a DBT show and, when Hood performed “The Living Bubba,” found himself in tears. He eventually convinced the band to let him follow them around for three years of touring and recording. The title comes from A Blessing and a Curse’s “World of Hurt” and is less upbeat when you know how the line concludes: “The secret to a happy ending is knowing when to roll the credits.”

Hopefully the Drive-By Truckers won’t be rolling those credits anytime soon, not with things going as well as they are. “It’s a good time for the band,” says Hood. “Last year was such a horrendous year for the live music business, and lord knows the rest of the music business is even worse. But we’ve always been a little outside of all that stuff, so it didn’t affect us as much.

We’ve been lucky, that last year, we kind of rode on through it.” illustration by bruno guerreiro

dumbest

The ever did at a

thing I

concert

In

my freshman year at Kent State, I had a big, misguided crush on one of my Intro to Journalism classmates. Since I was at that point averse to the wonders of alcohol, unfiltereds, gravity bongs and mounds of uncut Bolivian, the only date scenario I could concoct— and trust me, this was one of those circumstances where only one of us was aware we were on a “date”—was a concert. Definitely not a situation where we’d be surrounded by three to four hundred dudes more experienced, attractive and uninhibited than yours truly.

Anyway, since I “worked at” (read: pilfered CDs from) the campus radio station, I occasionally nabbed free tickets to the post-grunge one-hit-wonder nightmares of the time.

The freebies in question tonight were to Spacehog, who you will probably recall as the UK band whose singer “played animal crackers” with Liv Tyler well before Ben Affleck in Armageddon. Anyway, they liked Mott the Hoople and Queen, there were some catchy songs on Resident Alien… DON’T MAKE ME EXPLAIN MYSELF. Anyway, this DEFCON Shins life-changing event is occurring at the Cleveland Odeon, a big dank boring space where the floor comprises 95 percent of the club. We hang out on the sidelines for the first nine or so songs, whereupon I Blow It talking incessantly about class, flawlessly telegraphing the moment of true failure to arrive. Spacehog smartly decide to close with their lone radio hit “In the Meantime,” a synth-y throwback falsetto fist-pumper that’s slightly more brutal than Deep Blue Something’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”

I commemorate the occasion, in order by a) uttering the words “I think I’m going into the pit,” b) going into the pit, which consists of six 15-year-old girls and those evertroubling Two Guys Who Heard ‘Em On The Radio, c) lasting 30 seconds before getting clocked in the face by one of the Guys Who Heard ‘Em On The Radio.

No, the bloody lip was not sympathetic enough to get me laid. Oh, and upon further review, this is maybe only the fifth dumbest thing I ever did at a concert. Sleep tight.

—Andrew Bonazelli

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movies

new dvds in stores this month

Calling the Antichrist

…and six more jewels of unsettling cinema you’ve never seen by Jonah Gruber

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o b e ar w i t n es s to Lars von Trier’s Antichrist is not unlike waking from sleep only to find you are still dreaming the worst of nightmares. Everyone who has seen this film is revolted by it in some way, and each viewer has a wholly different take on its meaning.

Some see it as a ruthless biopsy of gender relations, others a misogynist experiment, still others a portrait of suffering and schizophrenia, a profound meditation on the nature of evil, or a literal interpretation of a medieval obsession with the Devil. Antichrist may be all these things, but above all else it is a perplexing, viscerally charged puzzle that captures one’s thoughts and dreams for weeks after seeing it.

The story centers on a married couple that has recently lost an infant son to an accident. The father (Willem Dafoe, credited as “He”) is a therapist, and commits to help his catatonically depressed wife (Charlotte Gains-

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bourg, credited as “She”) onto the path to recovery by taking her to the place she fears most—a remote family cabin they call Eden. While forcing her to confront her fears, he begins to learn disturbing things about her that he hadn’t known before. Reality appears to unravel. Terrifying hallucinations coincide with real events as the very ground they walk upon appears to be cursed.

While most media outlets were obsessed with the graphic sexual violence depicted in the film (the audience at Cannes booed throughout the entire movie), the real terror antichrist is stems from something much more coming to DVD brutal. Beneath the layers of Antisoon from IFC christ, at its very core, is a depiction Films

Casting Squirms Anybody can take a camera and a low budget and make torture porn. Without naming any names (*cough* Splat Pack), it’s too easy to pick through the horror tropes of Italian giallo and present it to a new American audience. But if you are looking for real fear, fear that comes from a real understanding of insanity, the stuff that gets inside you and doesn’t leave, here are some recommendations for your next voyage. —Jonah Gruber

Taxidermia (2006) György Pálfi Appropriately categorized as “Body Horror,” Taxidermia is a loving, hilarious and terrifying tribute to the dead ends of obsessive behavior. Spanning three generations of a single, seriously messed-up Hungarian family, the movie contains more speed eating and subsequent projectile vomiting than twenty Stand by Mes. Morbid obesity, giant mutant cats, stalking, elaborate suicides and, of course, taxidermy are prominent themes in this darkly comedic serving of WTF.

The Bothersome Man (2006) Jens Lien & Per Schreiner

A surreal Norwegian film best described as Kafkaesque. Andreas works in an office in a supposedly ideal, wealthy society. The veneer of perfection begins to peel when he starts to experience the pangs of compassion and sensation, both of which are completely missing from his culture. He finds a mysterious hole in a wall that emanates ghostly music and risks everything to see what’s on the other side.

Naboer (2005) Pål Sletaune Next Door is a suffocated echo between the walls of Roman Polanski’s Repulsion and Christopher Nolan’s Memento.

A hand reaches down and muffles the sound, but we hear enough of the conversation to know that there is something seriously wrong with the film’s protagonist. A terrifying portrait of madness, Naboer features one of the most disturbing sex scenes in cinema history.

of male rationality destroyed by pre-Christian feminine power. “She,” in all her mystery, dominates the land, the elements, the animals and the divine. Beyond description, Antichrist challenges us to ask questions that disturb our notions of gender, spirituality, pain, rationality and reality itself. Timeless, inappropriate, shocking in

Possession (1981) Andrzej Zulawski Posing as a drama about a decaying marriage, yet banned in the UK until 1999 as part of the “Video Nasties List,” Possession is a gut-wrenching cult classic that won the painfully beautiful Isabel Adjani Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival. When one first watches “the tunnel scene,” it’s not hard to see why; there is no depiction of demonic influence more nauseating or real. It, too, features one of the most disturbing sex scenes in cinema history.

Marebito (2004) Takashi Shimizu & Chiaki Konaka

The creator of the original Grudge has something to say about subterranean vampires and throwing away your medication. We aren’t sure which one is causing the meek camera-wielding lead to lose his marbles and slice up schoolgirls.

Audition (1999) Takashi Miike From the master of the sublime and grotesque, Miike’s Audition fools us in the first half into believing this is a drama about a lonely Japanese widower who selects a shy, conservative young woman from an audition of prospective actresses to be his wife.

Things go terribly wrong in the other half. The denouement is considered one of the most harrowing scenes in all of cinema by this author.

its originality and tortured beauty, in 30 years it will be remembered as a masterpiece (indeed, von Trier considers it the greatest thing he’s ever done), but for now it seems it will toil in obscurity, watched only on a dare by those who are lured in by its sordid secrets.

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by andrew bonazelli

The Men Who Stare at Goats

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h e n w e g e t lost in George Clooney’s chiseled visage and dreamy peepers, we tend to forget that the dude has range. Well, at least as much as Ocean’s buddies Matt Damon and Brad Pitt, who “disappear” into one out of every five or so roles they take.

Point is, Clooney tries, and can balance zany with pathos (best exemplified in the underrated Intolerable Cruelty and quite-the-opposite Burn After Reading). That’s what happens in this near-miss, where the blame falls on the script more than a game cast. Clooney is a top secret former (?) special forces operative who participated in “psychic espionage”—namely attempting teleportation, ESP, mind-control and yes, staring farm animals to death. GC learned this under the tutelage of Jeff Bridges’ hippie unit founder, made an arch-rival in Kevin “Almost Actually Trying Again” Spacey, and somehow impresses cuckolded reporter Ewan McGregor enough to follow him around the Middle East. This all reads way better than it plays. In Stores March 23.

Overture Films/Anchor Bay Entertainment

The Prisoner Talk about a blown opportunity. 10 p.m. Sundays = Mad Men on AMC (if you’re nasty), so when season three ended (and this is a phenomenon that applies to most popular shows), fans weren’t quite ready to deal with timeslot separation anxiety. So, what better tide-youover than a daring remake of Patrick McGoohan’s cult ’60s series about individuality, perception of reality and giant roaming knockout bubbles terrorizing the countryside? Sadly, dubious casting (Jim “the Son of God” Caviezel in McGoohan’s title role; a sleepwalking Ian McKellen as his insidious keeper), pervasive humorlessness and incoherent editing failed to maintain much interest. We’re making this sound much, much worse than it is, but such are the unfair standards when you reimagine something so beloved. In Stores

March 23. Warner Home Video

Lock n’ Load With R. Lee Ermey The Complete Season 1 Enjoy this “fascinating ride through the pathology of the rifle,” as narrated

by Full Metal Jacket’s Gunnery Sergeant Hartman. To the best of our knowledge, he will not force you to sleep with it and give it a girl’s name, although “MaryJane Rottencrotch” is always a winning choice. And now, since we haven’t actually watched this gem, let us direct you to rleeermey.net. Ever craved an R. Lee Ermey bobblehead? How about a “Big Daddy Ermey” T-shirt? Maybe the S.N.A.F.U. DVD, boasting “an hour of uncensored blunders, foul-ups and mishaps on the set of Mail Call,” R. Lee’s History Channel show (also a book)? Perhaps a 12-inch “dress blues” motivational figure to get your ass on top of that obstacle?

Just click on any one of these options and watch your cursor become a target sight.

Oh yeah: all of these stocking stuffers are available before you even enter the site, for god’s sake. In Stores Now. A&E Home Video

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Gentlemen Broncos Now that your “Vote for Pedro” shirt has gone the way of “Do the Bartman,” only sneering contempt remains in PopCultureVille for Napoleon Dynamite co-creator Jared Hess. Which isn’t entirely fair—as precious and ironic as his design aesthetic may be, there are way more egregious Wes Anderson wannabes out there. (Some of them, like Zach Braff, appear to have been forbidden from making more movies, which is awesome.) Ironically, after sophomore flop Nacho Libre and junior, uh, floppier Gentlemen Broncos, Hess may be about to join Braff in the pastel graveyard. Teen fantasy writer Michael Angarano is ripped off by established hack/idol Jemaine Clement (always ruling in sadly now-defunct Flight of the Conchords) and Rushmore-style petty revenge ensues. Sam Rockwell delivers the goods, as usual, as both versions of the novel’s protagonist.

In Stores March 2. Fox Searchlight

The Twilight Saga: New Moon

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p o l o g i s t s l i k e t o pronounce the otherworldly success of this series as a good thing since “it’s gotten people reading again.”

Whether or not it’s gotten people reading unmitigated crap is evidently not as important. I’d like to say I’m not qualified to comment on this because I’m not a 13-year-old girl (another bad cliché), but amazingly, Stephenie Meyer’s ode to unyielding patriarchal devotion has captured the attention of 23-, 33- and 43-year-old “girls,” too. Many of whom have an indefensible one-word excuse for prolonging the trend 12 dollars at a time: abs. Taylor Lautner certainly has those. He was also like 17 when this movie was made. Somehow the infamous “Olsen Twins Countdown Clock” seems less… no, it’s just as creepy.

In Stores March 20. Summit Entertainment

Ninja Assassin There are three kinds of gore, really: the super-realistic and genuinely unsettling kind (American Werewolf in London) that hardly exists anymore, the hilarious, inspired headwhipped-off-with-helicopter-blades kind (the original Dawn of the Dead), which hardly exists anymore, and CGI, which is everywhere—including this movie—and awful. Yet, that doesn’t necessarily make Ninja Assassin the tacky nightmare its trailer promised.

Asia’s Justin Timberlake, Rain, is the eponymous antihero at a dojo in which orphans are encouraged to eviscerate one another en route to becoming hired killers. The depictions thereof are hilarious and gruesome and sweet. In real-time, he (of course) develops a conscience to save an Interpol agent trying to expose the ninja craze or something (whatever), but still deals out plentiful ass-beatings. If this only had like $20 million or more in budget, the highway hand-to-hand scene could have been an all-time classic. In Stores March 16.

The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day There are only two ways to perceive the original Boondock: as a cult hit on par with the best post-Tarantino hard-R masterworks, or as crap. Either makes for entertaining viewing, and that’s what the sequel offers in spades (albeit without Willem Dafoe’s “hesitation wound”-laden career suicide attempt as an uproariously swishy special agent). The McManus brothers, the embodiment of all (horribly stereotypical) things Irish, exist to gun down sinners acrobatically and occupy a state of perpetual unintentional (?) homoeroticism otherwise. The most interesting thing about BSII is not, of course, the plot, but why “auteur” Troy Duffy still isn’t doing interviews after the crushing Overnight, one of the best documentaries of the ’90s, which captured the first-time filmmaker’s complete meltdown after Harvey Weinstein gave him control over the film and soundtrack, not to mention co-ownership of the bar he worked at.

In Stores March 9. Sony

South Park: The Complete 13th Season I guess all you can ask for after 13 seasons and 195 episodes is that once in a while you can still dial up a water cooler moment. Trey Parker and Matt Stone did just that with this season’s sixth episode, “Fishsticks,” satirizing Kanye West’s out-of-control ego, and this was well before I’maletyoufinishgate. Not sure if either occurrence truly capsized West’s impressive career (or if any of us really want to see that happen, other than 50 Cent), but it was a maddening example of how Trey and Matt can be so dead-on some Wednesdays, yet mail it in so many others (see: “Eat Pray Queef,” a pathetic excuse to say “queef” about a hundred times). While the crew’s ability to piece together a show in a week works wonders for maintaining the show’s relevance (the pre-release Avatar parody “Dances With Smurfs”), sometimes it underscores South Park’s reliance on repetition. Food for thought—is South Park better 13 seasons in than The Simpsons at the same point?

In Stores March 16. Comedy Central

warner home video

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movies

new dvds in stores this month

Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire

T

hat damn subtitle. Without it, at least Silence of the Lambs fans could’ve gotten excited for a couple seconds—although as arch-villains go, Monique easily gives Buffalo Bill a run for his money. (Leave your “great big fat person” jokes at the door, kids.) Anyway, Precious is without question the most depressing Oscar nominee since Boys Don’t Cry. The eponymous protagonist (rookie Gabourey Sidibe) is not only impoverished, barely literate and highly overweight, but she’s raped/ impregnated by dad and abused pretty much every other way you can imagine by mom (Monique, at the top of her game). So, that’s pretty much as gruesome as it gets, and you can take it two ways from there—metaphorical redemption or literal redemption. Even though the latter approach is easier, we can’t fault the filmmakers or the audience for wanting to free Sidibe from her daily terrors. In Stores March 9. Lionsgate

2012

Jersey Shore

Every six or seven years, John Cusack has to make up for giving a shit in thoughtful failures like Max, The Ice Harvest and War Inc. by placating the masses (see: Con Air, Serendipity). So, yes, duh, this movie is painfully inept, and Roland Emmerich is at the point of ripping his own idiocy in Independence Day off (which was done way better in the original V), but the director has got to be aware of this by now. And if “disaster porn” was actually coined as a result of this movie, well, that’s an entry to the lexicon that will just keep giving and giving. Amanda Peet plays the estranged wife here, ’cause that’s all she’s got, and Woody Harrelson exhibits a fine sense of humor parodying himself as a mountain-dwelling wingnut who Sees It All Coming. It’s kind of weird how there are zillions of earthquakes and tornadoes and stuff, but nobody really actually is shown getting crushed/vivisected. That’s the glory of PG-13. Suffice it to say, movies like this are the reason Blu-ray was invented, so wallow in that if you’ve got one. In Stores March 2. Sony Pictures

Season 1 The genius of Jersey Shore lies not in its cast and their inherent lunacy, but the MTV Reality Show Deathsquad Department’s realization that we had not seen anything like this before. I mean, yes, obviously we had seen the overdramatic overwrought overemphasis of the most pointless roommate arguments ever in its trillion predecessors. But we hadn’t seen them in a shitty shorehouse with the Italian flag painted over the garage, a Scarface poster gracing the stairwell, a duck phone as the only means of communication with the outside world, and a disease-ridden hot tub lording above it all. It’s so hard to unearth new subsets of filmable entities in the reality era, and this was right there under NYC’s snooty nose the whole time. MTV made it happen. But let’s not short-shrift the casting. The Situation and Snooki are truly unbelievable, Pauly D and Jwoww are just a notch below, and the others (not counting Angelina “I’m a bartender—I do great things,” who couldn’t handle the rigors of a novelty Tshirt store after three weeks) were boring only in relativity to these Halley’s Comets of unintentional hilarity. In Stores Now.

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Days of Heaven There is nothing like a Terrence Malick movie—his all-time legend status is probably augmented by the fact that he’s only made four of them, with a major delay between number two (Days of Heaven) and three (the grotesquely underrated Thin Red Line). Finally, a Malick film gets the Criterion tongue-bath that all of them so richly deserve. Richard Gere plays a WWI-era steelworker on the run with his beau (Brooke Adams) and little sister after accidentally killing his boss.

An escape from Chicago to Texas is not an opportunity for redemption, but a retributive series of horrors, as Gere’s new employer (Sam Shepard) strikes a relationship with Adams and things devolve to locust swarms and bibilical blazes. Unsurprisingly, Malick doesn’t contribute a commentary track or really any sort of appearance, but his editor, art director and casting director fill in the blanks, while Gere and Shepard likewise contribute interviews. It’s a package well worth diving into as we wait for Tree of Life, starring Sean Penn and Brad Pitt. Unfortunately, Malick is notorious for taking years to edit his films, so god knows when that will rear its head.

In Stores March 23. Criterion

2012

AvAilAble MArch 2nd

the BOONDOCK SAINTS II Available March 9th © 2009 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. All Rights Reserved. © 2010 Layout and Design Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

© 2009 Stage 6 Films, Inc. All Rights Reserved. © 2010 Layout and Design Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

MOTO GP 09/10

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music on sale now at your local independent retailer

Available March 17

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movies

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CHILDISH THINGS PUT AWAY

There’s not enough room for rumpus in Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are

by Bret McCabe

T

� � � � � � � � � � �� � � � � � writer Dave Eggers and writer/director Spike Jonze is the ideal team to bring Maurice Sendak’s slim children’s book Where the Wild ings Are to cinematic life—at least, on paper. Ever since ’s A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Eggers has emerged as a sympathetic narrator of young men who feel isolated in their own skin.

And from his early skateboarding and music videos on through his television ads and movies, Jonze is a visually gifted but colloquial storyteller who enjoys letting the wild rumpus begin in anarchic scenes of physical mayhem (such as skateboarding wipeouts, which was really all Jackass ever was) or imagining fantastically alive other worlds (such as the portal in a man’s mind in Being John Malkovich).

So, while the storyline of Sendak’s children’s classic plays into Eggers’ and Jonze’s strengths—young Max gets sent to his room without supper and escapes by imagining the faraway titular world of giant creatures and no parental intrusion—the filmmaking team has to expand this slim storyline into feature length. In doing so, the wraparound plot practically neuters the fantasy elements. Nine-year-old Max (the wide-eyed Max Records) is the lonely son to a hard-working single mom (Catherine Keener), and his older sister has already hit those awkward teenage years that make hanging out with the frenetic little brother uncool.

eir father is absent—why? e movie never says— and Max suffers the pedestrian angst of being a kid who wants more attention than he actually gets. So, when

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mom invites a male friend over for dinner, Max lashes out, donning a dirty old rabbit costume and sassing his mother, who tries to send him to his room. Max instead flees the house, running through the woods near his suburban home and right into the world of his imagination, where he skippers a boat to a remote island and runs into a group of oversized monsters—think raggedly stuffed animals—slowly befriending the impish Carol (voiced by James Gandolfini) and the motherly KW (voiced by Lauren Ambrose).

And there Max stays for what feels like forever. Credit Jonze and cinematographer Lance Accord for giving the movie such a magical, distinct look. e wild things look unreal, but they’re not products of smooth CGI effects, and they get dirty, expressing facial emotions, running and jumping. But the story here moves from the fanciful to the didactic, as island scenes mirror earlier scenes, lessons get learned and repeatedly drummed over the audience’s head, and the pace crawls to a sheepish shrug.

is shift in mood doesn’t ruin the experience; it merely sucks all the restless life out of it. Where the Wild ings Are starts off feeling like a rollercoaster ride into a young boy’s mind, but glacially becomes just another pedestrian after-school special about growing up.

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE is available March 2 from Warner.

40th Anniversary Concert Special on PBS this month (check local listings)

ROUNDER RECORDS

40TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT

Special CD of the commemorative concert for Rounder Records’ 40th Anniversary features an all-star cast: Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Madeleine Peyroux, Steve Martin, Bela Fleck, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Irma Thomas, Minnie Driver, Alison Krauss & Union Station, feat. Jerry Douglas).

AVAI L ABL E M ARC H 2 ND

DVD also aVailable © 2009 Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Bestselling Books About Music at Indie Bookstores for March ’10

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AvAilAble MArch 16th © 2009 El Deseo D.A., S.L.U. All Rights Reserved. © 2010 Layout and Design Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Visit IndieBound.org for more great reads and to find an indie bookstore (or other great indie business) near you.

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2/12/10 3:11:14 PM

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STILL SMOKING

Three seasons in, and the mainstreaming of Mad Men is the only annoying thing about it

by Andrew Bonazelli

E

        a new Mad Men season rolls out, I cringe. Not because the show’s overrated or pretentious, but because the media lead-up is so obnoxious. Now, granted, it has to be. AMC is not exactly HBO, boasting a built-in stable of quality original programming (and Entourage!). It’s in the network’s best interest to trot Jon Hamm, January Jones and Christina Hendricks every and anywhere to remind the rest of the world that hey, this is that show about ’ s ad execs with good-looking people cuckolding one another, just like all the other shows you like, except informed by John Cheever, but wait, forget about that—it’s like Jersey Shore, but with more cigarettes!

All right, it’s never that stupid. I’m just one of those snobs who thinks Mad Men’s too (kill me now) important to be subjected to the novelty that stinks up the remainder of mass culture. My friends threw a dress-up party for the season three debut, and I love my friends to death, but the only TV/movie-themed dress-up party anybody has ever needed to attend/throw = Caligula.

Okay, possibly in the future Avatar, because, uh, braidschtupping. Anyway, Mad Men dress-up parties are just the tip of the braid-berg. Details will show us how to suit up like Hamm and John Slattery for a mere three months of salary. (Yes, I understand that the target audience of Details is not embittered, aging, indie magazine editors.) And of course, you’ll get the whole cast in a big dumb-down on Ellen or Oprah or (let’s hope) more Saturday Night Live, since January Jones so clearly excels at stage work.

JJ is the cult’s official whipping girl, not so much because Jones sucks as an actress, but Betty Draper was all over season three, hallucinating about her father dur-

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ing childbirth, being increasingly condescending to her African-American housekeeper, wielding a brutal upper hand over Don after discovering his true identity. When Don’s unlikable, it’s usually from a fantasy-fulfilling, work-related position of power. Betty is a spoiled blueblood housewife, which has heightened her irritability; there’s a sexist discord in here that creator Matt Weiner subtly exploits. So, while every popular show has its Character You Must Kill Off Immediately (see: Debra on Dexter) Jones is simply doing what’s asked of her, and well. e SNL trainwreck just means she’s not great with cue cards (or fart jokes). Wasn’t she fine in e ree Burials of Melquiades Estrada and, uh, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights? Oh, forget it.

But enough about Jones—there are many other men and women on this show and they all do interesting, disturbing, sad, strange things. Annoying as the media inundation is, the fun thing about season premieres for shows like Mad Men is that for one day the whole world is vaguely aware of their existence. Our party had maybe eight people who were lifers, eight who weren’t, and Weiner started season three with an extended trippy dream sequence about Don’s father. e eight non-lifers threw in the towel and immediately missed the pivotal exposure of Sal’s sexuality, which colored plot developments all the way through a critical—and poignant—locked door in the final, Oceans Eleven-style fragmentation.

Mad Men rewards patience, whether you watch in a hoodie or a fedora. mad men: season three arrives March 23 from Lionsgate.

Blockbuster On Demand

There’s more than meets the eye to Roberto Orci’s final frontier, if he chooses to accept it

by Kurt Anthony Krug

R

oberto Orci’s curriculum vitae is a 13-yearold boy’s fever dream: Alias, The Legend of Zorro, Mission: Impossible 3, Transformers, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and the much-hyped, surprisinglysorta-awesome Star Trek revamp. Not only that, but the thirtysomething Mexico City native also co-created the hit series Fringe. Suffice it to say, Orci’s stock in trade is reimagining/resuscitating franchises that blow shit up real good. Here’s how he deals.

What are the benefits and drawbacks of writing iconic characters versus your own?

The margin for error is different… It’s a mix. So far for us, it’s been harder; you have to deal with expectations from the fans. When you write your own stuff, you write what you want—you don’t owe anybody anything, you don’t owe anybody any explanations. When it’s an established franchise, you’re up against an extremely cynical audience.

Talk about life working on a TV show.

It’s brutal. It’s like being an ER doctor. You’re always on call to handle emergencies. The minute you’re done with one episode, there’s another one next week. So, you’re working on one episode that you’re writing, another that you’re breaking a story to, another one that’s been shot and you’re editing it, another one that’s being shot as you speak, you’re casting it, and nothing ever goes according to plan. It’s just constant triage, even in the best of situations.

What sort of pressure did you feel revamping Star Trek?

We didn’t agree to take the job until we figured out how to do it. We said no for eight months… We knew the fan base was one of the most dedicated, most intelligent fan bases ever.

I remember the dry mouth that I had when I had to pitch [the scene where Planet Vulcan is destroyed] to Leonard Nimoy. We’re trying to convince him to do the movie, and then say, “Your planet gets blown up.” He was poker-faced until we got to the end of the pitch. I think he just raised an eyebrow, actually. [Laughs] At the end… he became very emotional. He said, “Look, you guys clearly have a passion and this is an interesting story. I won’t pretend I followed everything you just said, but I’m willing to read a script once you write it and then I’ll decide.” We took the gamble writing the script, hoping he’d say yes, because if he said no, there’s no movie for us. We would’ve removed ourselves. Thank god he said yes.

The Transformers sequel did very well at the box office, but wasn’t well-received by critics. How do you deal with that kind of criticism?

There’s less to learn from success and praise than there is to learn from criticism and failure. There’s almost nothing to learn from success, frankly. I pore over criticism and failure like a student. It feeds us; it’s an opportunity to take yourself back to school. fringe: the complete first season is available now from Warner.

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movies MARCH 2 Abyss/Alien/Aliens Affair to Remember/Ever After Alice Alice in Wonderland All About Eve/Cleopatra/Norma Rae Ant Bully Aria: The Origination Beaches of Agnes Beiderbecke Connection Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story Bird on a Wire/The Cowboy Way Bitch Slap Bollywood Hero Bone Collector/Sea of Love Double Feature Bull mania Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid/ The French Connection/The Hustler Castle in the Sky Chasing Darkness Cinderella Story Clash of the Titans Clifford’s Really Big Movie Cloak & Dagger/The Wizard Cold Souls Colony Commitments/Full Monty Dennis the Menace Designing Women: The Complete Third Season Devil Wears Prada/27 Dresses Doctor Who: Remembrance of the Daleks Doctor Who: Dalek War/Planet of the Daleks Elvis Eureka Seven: Good Night, Sleep Tight, Young Lovers F4: Vortex Fly/Independence Day/Omen For the Love of Grace Frances Free Willy Full Monty/Mash/My Cousin Vinny Garden State/Say Anything Gentlemen Broncos Great Expectations/Unfaithful Hansel & Gretel Hounds in Hot Pursuit Hunting the Lost Symbol Ice Age Jake’s Corner Jesus Karin: The Complete Series Kettle of Fish Kiki’s Delivery Service King Arthur & The Knights of Justice: The Complete Animated Series Kit Kittredge: An American Girl Last King of Scotland/Master & Commander/Wall Street Last of the Living/Play Dead Life Little Miss Sunshine/Juno Lodz Ghetto Lyrical Nanoha A’s: Complete Series Manowar: Hell on Earth V Marathon Marionette Masterpiece Theatre: The Road From Coorain Matlock: The Fourth Season Meet Joe Black/Captain Corelli’s Mandolin Military History Moulin Rouge/Tristan & Isolde Movie Marathon Collection: Flashback Comedies (For Love or Money/Casual Sex?/The Secret of

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the best of the rest of this month's new releases

My Success/The Hard Way/Career Opportunities) Movie Marathon Collection: Girls Rule (Josie & The Pussycats/ Honey/Blue Crush/The Perfect Man/Head Over Heels) Movie Marathon Collection: Old School Hits (Trippin’/Half Bakes/ Screwed/How High/CB4) Movie Marathon Collection: Steve Martin (Bowfinger/Parenthood/ Housesitter/Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid/The Lonely Guy) My Neighbor Totoro National Lampoon’s Blackball/ Bongwater Never Been Kissed/What Happens in Vegas Neverending Story Notting Hill/Erin Brockovich Olivia Takes Ballet Once/Slumdog Millionaire/Walk the Line Plenty Ponyo Prima Princessa Presents: Swan Lake Primordial: All Empires Fall

2 Brothers & A Bride Cheaper by the Dozen 2 Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home Gangster Collector’s Set Vol. 2 Disaster Collector’s Set Vol. 3 Free Willy 3: The Rescue Hallmark Collector’s Set Vol. 3 Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Season 2 Part 1 Hayate the Combat Butler Part 4 Dog Whisperer With Cesar Millan: Season 4, Vol. 1 Ladykracher-Staffel 5 Degrassi: The Next Generation Season 7 Noonbory and the Super 7: They’re Sense-ational Degrassi: The Next Generation Season 8 20 Years to Life 39 Steps Ice Skating Showcase: Routines 1980s 2010 WWE Royal Rumble 2010

« in stores MARCH 9

OLD DOGS

Old dogs, wild hogs, a biopic of Wade Boggs. John Travolta has two nicked off his checklist. Robin Williams costars this time.

Private Lives of Pippa Lee Regorgitated Sacrifice Remember the Daze/Senior Skip Day Return of Master Killer Rocky Road to Dublin Scooby-Doo: The Movie Sesame Street: Abby in Wonderland Ship of Fools Spin Strawberry Shortcake: The Berry Princess Street Poet Super Why: Peter Rabbit and Other Fairytale Adventures Taken in Broad Daylight/The Elizabeth Smart Story Tell Then Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak Terror Factor This Emotional Life This Revolution Under Heavy Fire Utawarerumono: The Complete Series Walk the Line/Romeo & Juliet Wanted: Special Edition We Live in Public Where the Wild Things Are With or Without You Women in Prison Wordworld: Bear’s Masterpiece Wraith Wushu Warrior Yes You Can Phoenix: Collection Vol. 1-3 Have Gun – Will Travel: The Fourth Season Vol. 1 Kurokami Part 1 Poldark Series 1

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MARCH 9 101 Timeless TV Classics Al Dunia: Spectacular Bellydance Performances Amazing War Machines America: The Birth of Freedom American Firefighters: Heroes in Action America’s Military Secrets Art of Being Straight Athlete Avon Barksdale Story: Legends of the Unwired Baby Formula Bad Cops 1: Stop Police Brutality Barbie in a Mermaid Tale Benny Bliss & The Disciples of Greatness Big Screen Bombshells: 12-Movie Collection Bob Dylan: Weary Blues for Waitin’ Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day Boys of Summerville Braceface Vol. 1: Brace Yourself Brooklyn Boys Brothers Warner Buyusenki Battle Chronicle Capitalism: A Love Story Charlie and Lola Vol. 10: I Can’t Stop Hiccupping and Other Stories Chronicles of War Classic TV Sherlock Holmes Clownstrophobia Commish: The Complete First Season Crazy Crafts: Messes, Monsters & Music Creatures of the Thaw Dalziel and Pascoe: Season One

Dave Davies Kronikles: Mystical Journey Dead Life Defiling the Stage Dork Hunters and the Pirates of Tortuga Island Eavesdrop Edgar Allan Poe’s The Pit and the Pendulum Escape From Blood Plantation Evangelion 1.01: You Are (Not) Alone Explorations & Adventures Familiar of zero: Series One Family Under Siege Fight Dragon: Complete Series Fix Flick’s Chicks Flight 93/Partition Franklin: Franklin’s Birthday Party Gaogaigar King of the Braves Collection 2 George Shrinks: Sunken Treasures Gigante Ginger Baker and Friends: Live at the Jazz Café 2009 God’s Left Hand, Devil’s Right Hand Good Intentions Greek: Chapter Four Gritty Horror Tails Hachiko: A Dog’s Story Hannah Montana: Miley Says Goodbye?

Haunted Echoes Heart Is a Drum Machine Hell on Earth Hisashi Tenmyouya: Samurai Nouveau History of St. Patrick’s Day House of Fears Human Face Imax: Wild Australia: The Edge In a Mellow Mood In Plain Sight: Season Two Indomitable Teddy Roosevelt Iron King: The Complete Series Japan at War Jimi Hendrix: Live at Woodstock Johnny Bravo: Season One Judge John Deed: Season One & Pilot Episode Justin Time Kenichi: Season 2 Part 1 Last Shangri-La Last Word: A Documentary Life With Derek: The Complete Third Season Martha Speaks: Martha Says It With Flowers Matt Houston: The First Season Maximum Overdrive/Raw Deal Memory Thief Murder in Hopeville Naruto: Shippuden Vol. 7 National Geographic: The Lost JFK Tapes: The Assassination NFL: Super Bowl ILIV Champions Nine Dead Ninja Old Dogs Orlando’s Joint Out in the Silence Peter Hammill: In the Passionkirsche: Berlin MCMXCII Pippi Longstocking: Here Comes Pippi Plan B Planet 51 Possession Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire Pretty Pony Stories Rampage: Killing Without Reason Redwall: The Adventure Begins

Reno/Tahoe Motion Pictures: Fall Edition Rise and Fall of Japan Rise and Fall of Nazi Germany Rot: Reunion of Terror Royo Rogers: King of the Cowboys Sacred Music Sacrificium Savage Cinema: 12 Movie Collection Scarecrow & Mrs. King: Complete First Season Second Best Science Fiction Movie Ever Sensei Serbis Sesame Street: Elmo’s Rainbow and Other Springtime Stories Shade of Grey Shattered Silk Stalkings: The Complete First Season Simple Justice/Booker Snowy River: The McGregor Saga: Adventure in the Australian Outback/A Different Breed of Cowboy Something Unknown Is Doing We Don’t Know What Sonny Chiba Collection Soul Masters: Dr. Guo and Dr. Sha Special Ops Mission Spider’s Web: A Pig’s Tale/Strawberry Shortcake SS Hell Pack Vol. 2 Stoning of Soraya M. Stranger in Town Take Me Home to the Mountains Tales From the Dead Tapeheads TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Hitchcock Thrillers/ The Brothers Warner TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Marx Brothers/The Brothers Warner TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Romance & The Brothers Warner Tenspeed and Brownshoe: The Complete Series Toddlers & Tiaras: Season One Trail of Tears: Native American Documentary Collection Tremors: The Complete Series Truth About Average Guys Turn the Beat Around U2: The New Recruits – U2 Today Ultimate Fighting Championship: Best of 2009 Undead: Vampire Collection 2-Movie Pack Union Avenue Is Coming to Town Up in the Air Vexille Virginian: Season One, Part 1 Virginian: Season One, Part 2 Walker, Texas Ranger: The Seventh Season Wanted Dead or Alive: Season 2 War Boys Wedding Song Wiseguy: Collector’s Edition Wrath of the Titans WWE: Shawn Michaels: My Journey You’re Under Arrest: Full Throttle Collection 1 Zade: One Night in Jordan

MARCH 16 American Experience: The Bombing of Germany

« in stores MARCH 23

THE FANTASTIC MR. FOX

Wes Anderson and some extremely talented animators/celeb voices give life to Roald Dahl’s popular children’s book.

America’s Sweetheart: Gale Storm Anti-Terrorist Cell: Checkmate Armchair Thriller: Set 2 Armored Astro Boy At Jesus Side Bandslam Blurred Realities: American Zombie/ The Hole Story/American Shopper Breaking Bad: The Complete Second Season Brief Interviews With Hideous Men Broken Embraces Caillou Pretends to Be… Chihuly: Fire & Light Christianity: The First Two Thousand Years Clash of the Gods: The Complete Season 1 Cool School: How L.A. Learned to Love Modern Art Crimes of Passion/Women in Love/ Mahler/Valentino D.C. Sniper Death Journey Destination Truth: Season 1 Did You Hear About the Morgans?

Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman: Complete Season 2 Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman: Complete Season 3 Eugene Expecting a Miracle Fourth Kind Genshiken: Season 2 Premium Collection Gimme Ted: The Ted Mulry Benefit Concerts Gladiformers Gogol Bordello Non-Stop Great Hearts of Courage Guide to Living Hawaii Five-O: The Eighth Season Her Night of Romance/Her Sister From Paris High Life Holy Grail in America Holyman Undercover: He’s Hot He’s Hip He’s Amish Honey and Clover Box Vol. 3 Hour of the Wolf/Skammen/Passion of Anna/Serpent E How to Get Ahead in Advertising Italian Villa Kiki/Within the Law Kirk Whalum: The Gospel According to Jazz Chapter 2 Laffapalooza: Live From Vegas Little Stevie’s Stevie Wright Band Love and Honor Marvin Sapp: Here I Am Mataharis Matters of the Heart Mean Johnny Barrows Miles From Nowhere Monk: Season Eight Mr. Bean’s Most Memorable Moments Mystery Science Theater 3000: XVII

National Geographic: America Before Columbus Near East Ninja Assassin Number 96 One Piece: Season Two: Sixth Voyage Order of Chaos Paraphernalia Paris Prince Igor Princess and the Frog Quadroon Red Like the Sky Relative Stranger Ruth Rendell Mysteries Collection Slayers Revolution Season 4 Smash Cut Soldier’s Love Story South Park: The Complete Thirteenth Season Spongebob Squarepants: Spongebob’s Last Stand Swando Thunderheads Triumph of Dingus McGraw: Village Idiot UFC 108: Evans vs. Silva Under Great White Northern Lights Unrivaled Vengeance Trilogy Volbeat: Live – Sold Out 2007 Windrider Wish Me Luck: Series 1 Wonderful World Yanni: Live: The Concert Event

MARCH 23 $5 a Day 14 Amazons 7th Heaven: The Tenth Season Abbott and Costello Show: The Complete Series African Queen After Dark Horrorfest 4 Akihabara@Deep Andrew Hill: Solos – The Jazz Sessions Astropia Aviary B.O.B.’s Big Break/Shrek 3D Banshee!!

Barney: Egg-cellent Adventures Bedford: The Town They Left Behind Best of the Flatt & Scruggs TV Show V10 Best of the Flatt :& Scruggs TV Show V09 Big Noise Dispatches 05 Bigger Than Life Black Balloon Black Crescent Moon Bleach Vol. 26 Blind Side Bob the Builder: Heavy Duty Diggers Brothers Bulletproof Salesman Caio

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Career Carny Case Closed: Season 3 Case Closed: Season 4 Cat Girl/Super Dimension Odyssey Tritia Collision Damage Darker Than Black Dead Letters Distant Journey/The Fifth Horseman Is Fear Dread Edge Energy for Life Fantastic Mr. Fox Father Knows Best Season Four Final Financial Freedom Five From Barska Street Four Corners of Suburbia Gang Girl Gold: Before Woodstock – Before Reality Gonzalo Rubalcaba: Solos – The Jazz Sessions Graves Guaguasi/Nobody Listened Heinrich Himmler: Anatomy of a Mass Murderer Hidden Hitler Meets Christ Homewrecker Hotel California Huntik: Secrets & Seekers Vol. 4 Ikki Tousen: Dragon Destiny Vol. 2 In Heaven as It Is on Earth Jeff Healey and the Jazz Wizards: Beautiful Noise Kartemquin Films Collection: The Early Years Vol. 1 – Parents/ Thumbs Down Kill Theory Korean Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire Lair: The Complete Third Season Lake Mumgo Lark Farm Lee Konitz: Solos – The Jazz Sessions Legend of the Sandsquatch Lost Dream Love and Passion Mad Men: Season 3 Men Who Stare at Goats Muse: Under Review Nabari No Ou: The Complete Series Part One National Geographic: Rescue Ink Unleashed Season One NHL: Chicago Blackhawks: Great Moments and Classic Games NHL: Washington Capitals: 10 Greatest Games Night of Broken Glass: The November 1938 Pogroms Phantom Punch Pokemon Elements Vol. 10: Rock Pokemon Elements Vol. 9: Ghost Prince & Me 4: Elephant Adventure Prisoner Red Cliff Red Cliff II Red Ninja 3 Film Set Reeds Roller Derby Chronicles Rosa and the Executioner of the Fiend Rosa de Guadalupe Vol. 2 Sabrina the Teenage Witch: The Sixth Season Sayuri Ichijo: Following Desire Seraphine

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movies Shaolin Handlock Smokin’ Aces Son of Man Spiritual Revolution Spring 1941 Stargate Atlantis: The Complete Series

the best of the rest of this month's new releases

Annie/Annie: Royal Adventure Antarctica Challenge: A Global Warning Aquarion: The Complete Series Baader Meinhof Complex Backyardigans: Escape From the Tower Beatles Collection

« in stores march 23

MAD MEN, Season 3

Advertising mega-firm Sterling Cooper will never be the same by the end of this pivotal season, nor will leads Don and Betty Draper.

Sula Patrol: Season One Super Van Susan Boyle: From Pain to Fame T.A.M.I. Show Taxidermia Things That We Used To Time of Your Life TNA Wrestling: Genesis 2010 Town Hall Party: August 29 & September 5, 1959 Town Hall Party: July 25 & August 15, 1959 Town Hall Party: March 28, 1959 Toxic Skies Toy Story Toy Story 2 Tracing Cowblys Twilight in Forks: The Saga of the Real Town Twilight Saga: New Moon Twisted Path of Love Vigilante Waiting for the Moon/Daisies When the Lights Go Out WWE: Elimination Chamber 2010 Yell for Cadel: Backstage at the Tour de France Yesterday Was a Lie Zombies of Mass Destruction

MARCH 30 6 Guns Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland/ Thomas and the Magic Railroad Adventures of Mouse and Mole Vol. 1 Adventures of Mouse and Mole Vol. 2 Afghan Star Against All Odds & The Big Chill Air Force One/In the Line of Fire Ali/The Greatest Alice in Wonderland Alice: A Look Into Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland All or Nothing All the Pretty Horses/Cowboy Up Alvin and the Chipmunks: Cinderella, Cinderella America’s Test Kitchen: The Complete 7th Season Anaconda/Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid Anaconda/Ghosts of Mars Angel and the Soldier Boy

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Belly of the Beast/Half Past Dead Ben 10: Alien Force Vol. 6 Bigfoot Black Dawn/Out for a Kill Black Hawk Down/Sniper 3 Blind Date Blind Date/My Stepmother Is an Alien Blue Streak/National Security Body Redefined Boogeyman/The Fog British Invasion Candyman/Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes Can’t Hardly Wait/The New Guy Capote & In Cold Blood Crucifer of Blood Deadliest Catch: Season 5 Diary of Anne Frank Dinosaur Valley Girls Discovering Ardi Earth Day Girl Education Elephants Fidel Castro: A Life of Revolution Flatfoot in Africa/Flatfoot in Hong Kong Footprints on the Moon: Apollo 11 Forks: Bitten by Twilight Foundations of Bellydance: East Coast Tribal Frontline: The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan Giggle, Giggle, Quack… And More Stories by Doreen Cronin Girly Godkiller: Walk Among Us Episode 3 Great Epochs of European Art: Early Christian and Byzantine Art, Romanesque Art & Gothic Art Hempsters: Plant the Seed Henri Cartier-Bresson High-Kick Girl Hitler’s Twilight: The Race to Berlin Horat Housebroken I Sell the Dead Icarly: Ifight Shelby Marx Id Thieves Indian in the Cupboard/Hook It’s Gonna Be Alright Jacksons: A Family Dynasty Jesse James’ Hidden Treasure Joe Rogan: Talking Monkeys in Space Kanon: The Complete Series Ken Anderson: Children’s Classics Collection Killer

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Kreaola Legacy: The Origins of Civilization Letters From Fontainhas: Three Films by Pedro Costa Lions Listen People Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries: Set One Lost Tapes Lupin the 3rd: Episode 0: The First Contact Magick of Solomon: Lemegeton Secrets Revealed Martin Lawrence Presents: 1st Amendment Stand-Up: Season 4 Mousehole Cat Murder of Mary Magdalene: Genocide of the Holy Bloodline Mysteryquest: The Complete Season 1 National Geographic: Big Sur – Wild California Negative Happy Chainsaw Edge Negima: Season 2 Nelson Mandela: The Life and Times Neo Angelique Abyss: Season 2 Nick Jr Favorites: Go Green Nostradamus Effect: Complete Season One Nova: Building Pharaoh’s Ship Nova: Killer Subs in Pearl Harbor Nova: What Darwin Never New Nunsploitation Convent Collection Once Upon a Time Once Upon a Time in a Battlefield Otogi Zoshi: Collection of Ages Ouran High School Host Club Phoenix Lights: Beyond Top Secret Placido Domingo: My Greatest Roles Vol. 2 Predators Prince & Me 2: The Royal Wedding/ The Prince & Me 3: A Royal Honeymoon Real Housewives of New Jersey: Season 1 Rhoda: Season 2 Rich & Bob: A Lifetime of Hits Sabu: Savage Drums/Jungle Hell Sadist With Red Teeth Salt of the Earth Schumann Encounter Sea Devils Separation Seven Easy Pieces by Marina Abramovic Sgt. Frog: Season Two, Part Two She’s a Punk Rocker Shut-Eye Soccer Dog/Soccer Dog 2: European Cup Soul Eater, Part 2 Spaghetti Western Collection: A Bullet for Sandoval/Any Gun Can Play Spaghetti Western Collection: The Strangers Gun Down/Today We Kill, Tomorrow We Die Sports Night: The Complete First Season Stealth/Blue Thunder Steven Seagal: Lawman – The Complete Season One Stories From East of the Moon Story of Math Strike Witches: Complete Series Swan Princess/The Swan Princess: Mystery of the Enchanted Treasure Three Tenors in Concert 1994 Trapped/Panic Room Trouble With Romance Voice of a Murderer Voices of Our Time: Ian Bostridge

Voices of Our Time: Thomas Hampson Wordgirl: Earth Day Girl

APRIL 6 211: Anna Adventures of the Black Stallion: Season 1 Ah My Buddha: Complete Collection Air: The Musical Ally McBeal: Season 2 Alvin & The Chipmunks/Flicka/ Space Chimps Awakening of Spring Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans Ballet Legends: Kirov’s Ninel Kurgapki Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series Beatnicks Big Gay Musical Big Momma’s House 1 & 2/Black Knight Billy: The Early Years Blood Forest Blood Red Moon Blood Ties: The Complete Series Bloody Faces of Terrorism Bon Jovi: Round & Round Boycrazy Collector Commando Damned Danny Bhoy: Subject to Change Dodgeball: True Underdog Story Dolan’s Cadillac Dragons or Dinosaurs? Creation or Evolution?

Easier With Practice Essential Games of the Detroit Tigers Everyone’s Hero/Firehouse Dog Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years 1954-1965 Family Guy V01 Family Guy V02 Fighter in the Wind Finn on the Fly Flicka/Because of Winn Dizie Float France Garfield: The Movie/Tail of Two Kitties Hallmark Collector’s Set Vol. 3 Hallmark Collector’s Set Vol. 6 Harlem Aria Heartland: The Complete First Season Heartland: The Complete Second Season High Plains Invaders HIM: Born Again Romantics Home of the Giants Horton Hears a Who/Toys/Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium Ice Age/Robots/Fern Gully: Last Rainforest Icons of Suspense: Hammer Films I’m No Dummy Inside the Forbidden City: 500 Years Into the Pride Irene in Time Jade Warrior Jordon Saffron: Taste This Keepin’ the Faith: Momma’s Got a Boyfriend King of the Hill Season 6 Kingdom Come/Johnson Family Vacation

Lake Eyre Little Hercules Lord of the Rings Lucy Calls the President Malpractice Marley & Me/Firehouse Dog/ Because of Winn Dixie Mary Tyler Moore: Season 1 Mary Tyler Moore: Season 2 Mary Tyler Moore: Season 3 Mary Tyler Moore: Season 4 Meet Dave/Dr. Dolittle 1 & 2 Modern Love Mrs. Doubtfire Murder.com My Friends Tigger and Pooh: Super Duper Super Sleuths My Stepmother Is an Alien Mysterious Island/The Ten Commandments Mythbusters: Collection 5 Napoleon Dynamite National Geographic: Canyonlands National Lampoon’s Ratko: The Dictator’s Son New Adventures of Black Beauty: Season 2 Nims Island/Eragon/City of Ember Numbers Game Party Down Season 1 Planet of the Apes Plunder: The Crime of Our Time Poseidon Queen Rental Magica Part 2 Robots/Little Robots – Big Adventures Rookie of the Year/Sandlot Seeker/Eragon Sensored Seventh Brings Return: Tribute to Syd Sex Galaxy Shadowplay Sharpe’s Peril Shiva Rea: Yogini Simon & Simon: Season Four Soap: The Complete First Season Soap: The Complete Fourth Season Soap: The Complete Second Season Songs From the Heart Space Chimps/Meet Dave Speed Strictly Ballroom Super Troopers Take a Seat Tekkaman Blade: Complete Collection Tetro War Eagle Arkansas We Believe Weathered Underground Wow Wow Wubbzy: Wubbzy Goes Green Wu Tang Protect Ya Neck 4-Film Set WWE: Hart and Soul: The Hart Family Anthology Yes Men Fix the World Yes: Rock of the ‘70s Youssou N’Dour: I Bring What I Love Zero Woman R

APRIL 13 8½ Acceptance Adventures of the Great Mouse Detective All My Friends Are Funeral Singers American Bellydance Legends Bakugan Battle Brawlers: Chapter 1

Barney’s Imagination Island Best of the Donna Reed Show Billy Martin in Concert Brief Encounter Canvas Clean Country Remedy Courage to Love Cowboys and Angels Creature of Darkness Crimes of the Past Daisy Chain Dallas: The Compete Thirteenth Season Daniel Dravot; Card Counting – The Definitive Blackjack Course Danny the Dragon Meets Jimmy Defendor Director Discover Planet Ocean Dora the Explorer: Explore the Earth Double Crossed: In The City of Angels You Can’t Trust Anyone Emergency! Season Six Essential Art House Vol. 5 Faces of America Femme Fatales Collection Floating Weeds Flower Power: Holiday Flowers Four Seasons Front Man Frontline: Digital Nation Genshiken Season 2 Premium Collection Great American Snuff Film Gunslinger Western Collection Hansel and Gretel Happy Endings?

Heroes of Horror Collection Heroes of WWII Hollywood Hoodlums Collection Ice Twisters Infection: The Invasion Begins Jim Henson’s Animal Show With Stinky and Jake: Lions, Tigers & Bears Jim Henson’s The Song of the Cloud Forest and Other Earth Stories John Leguizamo’s Freak Jules and Jim Kapo Looking for an Echo Loves of a Blonde Madeline: Lost in Paris Marines in the Pacific Mental Scars Special Edition Missing Person Murder & Mayhem Collection

Pantera: Segunda Temporada Pirate Radio Sanctuary School of Life Slammin’ Salmon Smile Space Ranger Complete Collection Sport Fishing With Col Prince Tenderness Tenure Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon Tom and Jerry Tales: The Complete First Season Turbo Dogs: Teamwork UFC 109: Relentless Vancouver 2010: XXI Olympic Winter Games Veer Wedding for Bella When They Cry: Complete Box Set WWII Battlefront

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys Season 1 Hey Watch This Hi-5 Season Four Hiking Trip Horse Boy I Can Tell the World Icons Among Us Ikki Tousen: Dragon Destiny Vol. 3 Incognito: Live in London: 30th Anniversary Concert Jack Hanna: Adventure in Africa Janis Joplin: Final 24 – Her Final Hours John Abercrombie: Solos – The Jazz Sessions Junk Dreams Keith Moon: Final 24 – His Final Hours Knife Edge Leaves of Grass Let’s Grow: Safety First Lord Save Us From Your Followers Making of a Legend: Gone With the Wind Mammoth APRIL 20 Maria’s Story Adopt a Sailor Marital Arts Essentials Vol. 7: Best Amazing Truth About Queen of the Best Series 2-6 Raquela Merlin: The Complete First Season And the Winner Is Mick Taylor Band: Tokyo Concert Angelo Moore: Showtime Motorhead: The Early Years: Live Band From Hell 1982-2002 Battleship Potemkin My Life to Live Beginning of the End My True Self Big Heart City Mythic Journeys Blue Tooth Virgin National Geographic: Expedition Cannibal Lolita: A Love Story Great White Citizen Duane Necrosis Cloud 9 Nick Zedd & Reverend Jen: Electra Comrades in Dreams Elf – The Complete Series Crimes of Fashion Nicole Brown Simpson: Final 24: Her Dojin Work: Complete Collection Final Hours Drawn Together Movie: The Movie Night of the Pumpkin Duska Offi cial Inaugural Celebreation Earth Days Oh My God Elvis Presley: All Hail the King: A 75 Operation Zeitsturm Year Tribute Orlock the Vampire 3D Escape From Darwin Paramedics Vol. 1 Evening Primrose Perry Mason: Season 5 Vol. 1 Every Other Day Is Halloween Pressure Cooker Ex Drummer Prom Wars Falcon Beach: The Complete First Return to Hansala Season Rolling Stones: Rare and Unseen Family That Eats Soil Sars: The Dead Plague Fish Out of Water Secret Shorts Fork in the Road Spring Break Massacre Frank Zappa: The Freak Out List Stoic Storm Seekers Summer Hours Surviving Crooked Lake in stores APRIL 6 Tales From the Script Tiger Next Door Totally Baked/4:20 Hour Stand-Up Transformers: Seasons Three and Four Uncertainty The funniest movie of 2009—intentionally Unspeakable just as often as un-, we think—earns its Vampire Double Feature Vampire of Quezon City long-overdue home release. Buy now.

Wake Where’s Spot Windman Wordz Project Getting Into the Vortex: Law of National Geographic: Africa’s Lost WW2 in the Pacific EP XII Eden Xena: Warrior Princess :Season One Gianni Versace: Final 24: His Final Nightmare on Elm Street Collection Year in Italy Hours Nova: Riddles of the Sphinx Young Victoria Godpeed One Last Dance Gospel Comedy All Stars 3: Don’t One Peace at a Time Judge Me Pacific Battlefront Handy Manny: Big Race

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BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS

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games

new video games in stores this month

by Chris Dick

THE NEVERENDING STORY

Thirteen is anything but unlucky in the latest Final Fantasy thrill ride

I

� J����, the Final Fantasy series is so popular that kids and teachers will skip school to queue up at their favorite retailer to nab a copy. Back in December, kids and teachers, in a rare but calculated act of societal defiance, did precisely that while waiting for their turn at the cash register. On these shores, however, people—when not attending comic or anime conventions—aren’t quite as fervent about Square Enix’s fantastically designed visions of David vs. Goliath. To be fair to Final Fantasy addicts here, their unwavering support of VII, VIII, IX and X certainly helped Sony move a few consoles.

But now that we’re on current-gen hardware (i.e., not the PS ), it’s time to see (hello, cutscenes and Eidolon summons!) what the first Final Fantasy on the PS and X has to offer.

Final Fantasy XIII, like every title from VII forward, is breathtaking. Visually, it’s why we stay up way past our bedtime and burn countless weekends (Square Enix promises at least hours of gameplay) in front of the boob tube. No expense was spared and no pixel went uncolored and unrendered. XIII is almost a movie—a splendiferous-looking movie. But it’s a game. Sort of,

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which I’ll touch on later. As far as characters and plot are concerned, the designers dreamed up two protagonists, Lightning (female) and Snow Villiers (male), and a complex set of supporting cast members. ey have the look and feel of Tidus and Yuna (both from X and X- ) with a more reserved, future-military color palette. It’s a nice touch after the fruity Ren-faire design of XII. For the plot, the writing team assembled a two-world universe. Cocoon is home to humans and their theocratic government, and Pulse is an untamed planet where the god-like fal’Cie reside. Humans are not allowed to visit Pulse. ose that do are purged from society. Naturally, there’s tension between Cocoon and Pulse, so, true to form, it’s up to Snow and her battle-ready cohorts to investigate and save both from a catastrophic end.

As always, there’s a slight learning curve to XIII’s combat system. It’s a little like Advent Children, but there’s a whole lot more to manage and control. Roles and Paradigms might be the hardest concepts to grasp, but master these early on, as things get insanely difficult if they’re not. Each Boss fight is progressively more strategic and less about brute strength as the XIII

Yakuza 3 PS3 [SEGA]

Gangsters, prostitutes and wanton violence are the three pillars in Yakuza 3. Actually, that’s not true. The initial plan is to run an orphanage on Okinawa, but, as usual, land grabs, greed, double-crosses and gang problems complicates main dude Kazuma Kiryu’s situation. Will the children cry or will Kiryu prevail?

In Stores March 9

Calling Wii [HUDSON] story moves along. e slotted attack system is intuitive. An impressive array of combos can be executed to build up primary and secondary summon meters. e meters (TP, Gestalt) are quite cool.

Building up the TP meters allows each character to summon an Eidolon (Odin, Shiva, Bahamut, Alexander, as well as newcomers Brynhildr and Hecatoncheir), whereas Gestalt meter, once filled, joins the player and Eidolon for truly powerful offensive strikes. e level-up system, called Crystarium System, functions a lot like the Sphere Grid in X. No real surprises here.

If there’s one issue with XIII—and it might be a major one for RPGers used to semi-sandbox titles like World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online and Aion—it’s that it’s very linear. ere are side quests to conquer and Chocobos to ride, but controlling Lightning, et al. and the outcomes of her actions are, more or less, predetermined. Players win/lose battles, level-up characters to win/lose more battles, watch a grandtabulouslyrendered cut scene or two, and repeat. In short, this is Final Fantasy. ere will be detractors, but it’s hard to dislike a game when the storyline, characters, graphics and (what little there is) gameplay are exquisitely rolled out like grandma’s $ , Persian rug.

Final Fantasy XIII is out now for the PS3 and X360.

We always play survival-horror titles at night after we’ve run through a graveyard or two. Sets the mood right. Well, the Internet’s a deadly place too. Visit a website displaying a death counter, chat it up with some unknown entity on said website and venture into the void. Can you escape? In Stores March 16

Dragon Age: Origins—Awakening X360, PS3, PC [EA] Expansion packs are vital to the survival of any new-gen RPG. Set in Amaranthine, players can import their old characters from Dragon Age: Origins or start from scratch. Do you have what it takes to level up, conquer all and reveal the true identity of the Architect? Yes, you do.

In Stores March 16

Red Steel 2 Wii [UBISOFT]

Once the Wii is realized as a mature-oriented console—not simply for the fam and the kids— gaming is sure to get interesting. In Red Steel 2, protag the Swordsman must avenge his fallen clan via swift and frequent use of sword (Wii Remote) and gun (Nunchuk). We can’t wait!

In Stores March 23

Just Cause 2 X360, PS3, PC [SQUARE ENIX] Four years in the making, Just Cause 2 puts parachuting bad-ass Rico Rodriguez into the thick of things (war) on the fictional Pacific island of Panay. Just Cause 2 is open-ended and deep, but the ultimate goal is to overthrow meanie dictator Baby Panay and all his bad attitude minions.

In Stores March 23

Highlander X360, PS3, PC [EIDOS]

Play as immortal warrior Owen MacLeod in Eidos’ action title. MacLeod starts in Roman-occupied Gaul (modern-day France) and the story eventually finds him as an everyday dude just trying to make ends meet in NYC. It’s in the Empire City where MacLeod has to yet again fight to survive.

Coming Soon!

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games

new video games in stores this month

EARTH SCORCHER R

� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �� � � � �� � � online role-playing game (MMORPG) is difficult work. e titles often require a substantially greater time investment than their cousins with a set beginning and end, and don’t reach their full potential, not to mention deliver on promises made, until months—if not years— after release. With this in mind, dear reader, please cast your doubt on the legitimacy of MMORPG reviews debuting within a week of the title. ey’re the equivalent of a movie review based on trailer footage.

Global Agenda, a PC-only futuristic MMORPG shooter from newcomer Hi-Rez Studios, quietly debuted in early February. After exploring yet another virtual world for dozens of hours, it’s time to make an assessment of the current, and possible future, state of the title.

Hi-Rez calls it a hybrid made from elements of their own favorite genres: “the combat of a team-based shooter, accessible character progression of an RPG, and emergent conflict, production, and politics between player-formed groups competing for limited territory and resources like a giant strategy game.� e clever PR-friendly wordage by itself presents an attractive sell, which makes it even more effective combined the fact that the game delivers.

For me, a longtime World of Warcraft addict, the act of auto-targeting opponents placed an irremovable skidmark on the tighty-whiteys of player versus player (PvP) gameplay. Global Agenda features none of such hand-holding aside from a heat-seeking rocket launcher

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PC shooter Global Agenda fires at will by kyle stallock

or deployable automated sentry turrets. Player skill is rewarded through careful aiming and manipulation of gameplay dynamics much like more mainstream shooters such as Halo, Tribes and Team Fortress . Like TF , players may choose from four classes—Recon, Medic, Assault and Robotics—as compared to TF ’s nine, and fill specific group roles such as healer, tank, sniper and stealth. In PvP, the game’s deliciously competitive focal point, every class and sub-class may capably do what it’s supposed to do, but in PvE—traditional player versus enemy cooperative instances—not every type’s accepted.

In many instances, my melee and stealth-based Recon received dozens of invitations to robot killin’ adventuring parties, but suffered crushing defeats to enemies of all shapes and sizes who relish in Recon frailty and laugh at the notion of “stealth.�

But the game’s still just a month old. To discount it for having balance issues would be to discount nearly every MMO ever released. Best of all, Hi-Rez knows what needs fixing, and even released a timeline of proposed updates—a rarity in the MMO world. As it is, the title’s a standout shooter with well-implemented, but basic, MMO qualities. As the title grows in the coming months, there’s no doubt it will become a musthave for fans of PC shooters.

TROPICO 3 is available now for Xbox 360 and PC from Kalypso Media.

games

the best of the rest of this month's new releases

« in stores MARCH 22

PIZZA DELIVERY BOY

Not sure if this is a nadir or pinnacle of modern gaming, but enjoy vying for the “Pizza Boy of the Year” title nonetheless.

WEEK OF MARCH 1 Alice in Wonderland Battle of Giants: Mutant…

Battlefield Bad Company 2 Dante’s Inferno Deca Sports Horrible Histories: Ruthless…

Imagine Sweet 16 Lips Party Classics Lunar: Silver Star Harmony Major League Baseball 2K10 MLB 10 Project Runway Shepherds Crossing 2 Silent Hunter: Battle of the…

Sonic Classic Collection Spongebob Boating Bash Supreme Commander 2 Windy X Windam

NDS, Wii, PC NDS PC, X360, PS3 PSP NDS PC, Wii NDS X360 PSP X360, PC, PS2, Wii, NDS, PSP, PS3 PS2, PSP, PS3 Wii PSP PC NDS Wii, NDS PC NDS

WEEK OF MARCH 8 Blazblue: Calamity Trigger Calling Daring Game for Girls Final Fantasy XIII Foto Showdown Project Runway Racquet Sports Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition Sam & Max 2 Beyond Time…

Shepherds Crossing 2 Think Kids Logic Trainer Thinksmart Advanced Thinksmart Family Travel Coach Warhammer 40000 Dawn…

Warhammer 40000…: Gold Yakuza 3

PSP Wii NDS, Wii PS3, X360 NDS PC Wii X360, PS3 Wii, PC NDS NDS NDS Wii NDS PC PC PS3

Smart Series JaJa’s Adventure Sonny With a Chance Spectral Force Genesis Super Speed Machines Supreme Commander 2 Sushi Go Round Zhu Zhu Pets

Wii NDS NDS NDS X360 Wii, NDS NDS

WAR MACHINE

WEEK OF MARCH 22 Build a Bear: Friendship Valley Build a Bear: Welcome to…

Cheer We Go Commander Europe at War Dawn of Heroes Dream Diary Emprire Deluxe Fun on the Farm How to Train Your Dragon

Wii NDS NDS PSP NDS NDS NDS NDS NDS, Wii, PS3, X360 Imagine Gymnast NDS Just Cause 2 X360, PS3, PC Learning to Spell NDS Making History 2: War of World PC Martial Arts Capoeira Fighters PS2, PSP, NDS Mirror Mysteries PC My First Dollhouse NDS My Little Helper: Spring Cleaning NDS My Pet Chimp NDS Pizza Delivery Boy Wii Popstar Princess NDS Quizzit NDS Red Steel 2 Wii Rooms: Main Building NDS, Wii Sakura Wars: So Long My Love Wii, PS2 Settlers 7 Paths to a Kingdom PC Shin Megami Tensei Strange… NDS Spellbound 2 NDS Squishy Tank NDS Stitch Jam NDS Strike Force Red Cell X360 Yard Sale Hidden…: Sunnyville NDS Zhu Zhu Pets PC Zorro: Quest for Justice NDS

WEEK OF MARCH 15 Assassins Creed 2 Autobahn Polizei Cages: Pro Style Batting…

Command & Conquer 4 Commander Europe at War Dead or Alive Paradise Dragon Age Origins Awakening Fragile: Farewell Ruins of…

God of War III GTI Club Supermini Festa Hall of Fame Horrible Histories: Ruthless…

Infinite Space Jakers Let’s Explore Let’s Draw Metro 2033 Moto GP 09/10 Mount & Blade: Warband

PC X360 Wii PC NDS PSP PS3, PC, X360 Wii PS3 Wii Wii NDS NDS Wii NDS PC, X360 PS2, X360 PC

WEEK OF MARCH 29 Again Bakugan 2: Battle Trainer Borderlands: Zombie Island Dance Sensation DK Snake Safari Grand Theft Auto Episodes…

Mimana: Iyar Chronicles Monster Rancher Prison Break World Party Games

NDS NDS X360, PC Wii NDS PS3, PC PSP NDS X360, PS3, PC Wii

WEEK OF APRIL 5 Montessori Music

NDS

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Every week is Greek Week in the devastating God of War III

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      is five years old now, and began with an ingenious classical premise. In ancient Greece, hired gun antihero Kratos hurls himself off of a cliff to a bloody end. We gradually determine that the suicide was a cumulative product of shifting allegiances to cutthroat god of war Ares. (Don’t worry—goddess of wisdom Athena conveniently intervened and resuscitated.) Since that groundbreaking debut, we’ve been treated to Kratos’ further adventures courtesy of God of War: Chains of Olympus, God of War: Betrayal and God of War II, which easily cements this fifth installment among ’s most anticipated titles. Heading into III, the main goal is to destroy Olympus. Precious few particulars are known of the plot, as developer SCE has struggled to tend to the i’s and t’s, but be prepared for your favorite red-striped maniac to take on sun god Helios, employ the wings of Icarus and employ new-andimproved Blades. god of war iii is available March 16 for PS3 from Sony Computer Entertainment .

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THEY’RE DEFINITELY

NOT CUDDLY, BUT YOU LOVE THEM ANYWAY

CH 16

IN STORES MAR

© MMIX Showtime Networks Inc. and Lions Gate Television Inc. All Rights Reserved.

SHOWTIME is a registered trademark of Showtime Networks Inc., a CBS Company.

© 2009 Sony Pictures Television Inc. All Rights Reserved. © 2010 Layout and Design Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Yeah, You’ve seen the movie.

But have you seen the Blu-Ray?

AVA ILA BLE

March 3rd

suPeR LoW Cost BLu RaYs these titles and moRe noW through march 27

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 2: DEAD MAN’S CHEST AvAilAble For

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CLERKS

ENEMY OF THE STATE

REDISCOVER

THE MAN WHO HOLDS

HIS OWN WITH

LADY GAGA The Music of

Elton John $9.99

OR lESS THIS MONTH Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Love Songs

One Night Only

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