THE GOOD
Dirty Projectors, “Bitte Orca”
(ALBUM)
If “Bitte Orca” is any indication of the direction music is evolving, I can rest easy knowing rock ‘n’ roll will be kicking around forever, no matter how much pop-y trash the industry uses to bury its best work. Dirty Projectors tone down their more experimental tendencies to create a masterful album defying cheap categorization.
“Nick Swardson: Seriously, Who Farted?”
(DVD)
Nick Swardson has a lot to offer the world besides playing a roller-skating prostitute on “Reno 911.” When he’s not co-starring in “Grandma’s Boy” or writing sitcoms about gay robots, Swardson is a talented stand-up comedian. With his new Comedy Central stand-up special, Swardson elicits laughs as he talks about his dreams of high-fiving a monkey and being a ninja.
THE BAD
“Karaoke With Your Favorite Principal Dennis Haskins A.K.A. ‘Mr. Belding’”
(ALBUM)
Who wants to hear classic songs from original artists when you can have the principal from “Saved By The Bell” ruin them for you? “Mr. Belding” not only thought people would want to sing along to his album, but they would want to sing along to him singing along. To top this monstrosity off, the CD is composed of seven songs that can be found at any karaoke bar or juke box in the world, such as Billy Joel’s Piano Man”.
“Stepfather”
(MOVIE)
“Stepfather” takes an overused plot concept and runs it into the ground. A punk kid comes home from military school to find out his new stepdad is a serial killer, but nobody believes him. If it sounds familiar, that’s because it is. I liked this movie when it was called “Rear Window,” but hated it when it was called “Disturbia.”
THE UNDECIDED
Sufjan Stevens, “The BQE”
(ALBUM/DVD)
Sufjan Stevens is great at portraying the emotion found in slices of Americana, but his songs about places are starting to get a little ridiculous. His latest endeavor is a mixed-media project about a stretch of highway. Stevens originally performed “BQE” as a live show to honor the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway in New York. Since “Come on feel the Illinoise” was one of the best albums of the decade, I’m willing to give “BQE” a chance, but I’m done when he starts singing about the New Jersey Turnpike.
Flight of the Conchords, “I Told You I Was Freaky”
(ALBUM)
The new album from New Zealand’s fourth-most popular folk-parody duo is a collection of songs from the second season of their show on HBO. In “I Told You I Was Freaky,” Bret and Jemaine poke fun at R. Kelly, Fergie, Of Montreal, and ’80s New Wave in their own signature way. What separates Flight of the Conchords from hacks such as “Weird Al” Yankovic is they parody the idea of a song instead of copying it outright.
Be the first to comment on this article!